Takeno Joo was a townsman tea master of Sakai in the late Muromachi period who developed Juko's wabi tea against the background of Sakai's wealth and culture. As Rikyu's teacher, he is the figure who transmitted the substance of wabi tea to him.
Life
Born into a family of Takeda retainers, he studied linked verse and waka in Kyoto, then made a fortune as a leather merchant in Sakai while devoting himself seriously to tea. He is credited with connecting the spirit of Fujiwara no Teika's poetry — the verse beginning "looking out, neither blossom nor autumn leaves" — to the idea of wabi tea.
Influence on tea
By joining the thatched-room practice to the sensibility of classical poetry, he established the aesthetic of hiekaruru, "chilled and withered", that leads to Rikyu. He trained many students, and Tsuda Sogyu, Imai Sokyu, and Sen no Rikyu all came from his school.
Why he matters
The standard account has the spirit of wabi tea completed across three generations — Juko, Joo, Rikyu — with Joo supplying the literary and poetic frame that Juko had left implicit.
About this article
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Term info
- Life dates
- 1502–1555
- Category
- Term
Related terms
- Chado (The Way of Tea)chado
The Japanese practice of preparing and serving powdered green tea, treated as a lifelong discipline rather than a beverage ritual.
- Wabiwabi
Finding sufficiency of mind within insufficiency and plainness; one of the root concepts of tea practice.
- Ichigo ichie (one time, one meeting)ichigo ichie
The principle that every gathering is unrepeatable, and should therefore be treated as if it will never occur again.
- Ikkyu SojunIkkyu Sojun
The Zen monk (1394–1481) whose transmission to Murata Juko founded the link between Zen and tea.
- Murata JukoMurata Juko
The tea master (1423–1502) who began the turn toward wabi tea by serving tea in a small thatched room.
- Sen DoanSen Doan
Rikyu's eldest son (1546–1607), who succeeded to the Sakai Sen house; the line ended after him.
- Sen no RikyuSen no Rikyu
The tea master (1522–1591) who brought wabicha to its definitive form and from whom the three Sen schools descend.