Soeki no cha names the wabi tea Sen no Rikyu established, the summit of the interior orientation of Japanese tea practice as it took shape in the Momoyama period.
The name
Soeki was Rikyu's name in his earlier years; the lay Buddhist title Rikyu was conferred later by Hideyoshi. Soeki no cha sometimes refers specifically to the wabi tea of his younger years and, more broadly, to his tea as a whole.
In practice
It is the interior orientation the Rikyu-lineage schools — the three Sen houses — carry forward. Everything designated wabicha or chanoyu takes Soeki's tea as its starting point.
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