Sansai-ryu carries the tea style of Hosokawa Sansai (Tadaoki), one of Rikyu's seven principal students. It combines gestures transmitted directly from Rikyu with a sense of form learned from Oribe, and was maintained as the tea practice of the Hosokawa house of Higo (Kumamoto). Among the warrior-class schools it retains the strongest colouring of Rikyu's wabi.
Lineage
Sansai was a warrior tea master counted among Rikyu's seven students. Moving from Buzen Kokura to Higo Kumamoto after Sekigahara, he is known for having kept to Rikyu's wabi tea strictly. The story of his protecting Rikyu's utensils and teaching after Rikyu's forced suicide is well known. The style passed down through the Hosokawa house and was organised under the name Sansai-ryu in the modern period.
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