Edosenke (江戸千家)
Edosenke is a school of tea ceremony that was originated by Fuhaku KAWAKAMI. It is also called the Fuhaku school. The headquarters are in Ikenohata, Taito Ward; its fellow organization is the Fuhaku Association, and a related institution is the Edosenke Chanoyu (tea ceremony) Research Association. There are also several branches of the Edosenke school that count Fuhaku KAWAKAMI as their founder, including Edosenke Soke Renge-an, which is headquartered in Yayoi (Bunkyo Ward), Bunkyo Ward, and the Omotesenke Fuhaku school, which is headquartered in Koenji, Suginami Ward.
History
Fuhaku KAWAKAMI was the second son of a retainer of the daimyo who served the Mizuno family in the Shingu clan of Kii Province (Kishu); under the recommendation of Tadaaki Mizuno, then the head of the family, he was able to enter the school of Joshinsai, the seventh master of Omotesenke, and establish himself in chado (the way of tea). At that time, the Sansenke (three schools associated with Sen Rikyu) in Kyoto entered a significant period of reform with Joshinsai at the forefront, and as one of the leading disciples in taking on the reformation, Fuhaku was active in the establishment of the Shichijishiki (seven training exercises). In 1750, after receiving instruction in the Shindaisu (tea shelf) and Nagabon (long tray), Fuhaku returned to Edo and first established a branch of the Omotosenke school called Mokurai-an in Surugadai, Kanda. It was then he learned that the last writings of Sen Rikyu were being kept by the Fuyuki family, who were wealthy merchants in Fukagawa (Koto Ward), and he negotiated for their return to Omotesenke. In the following year, 1751, upon the death of Joshinsai, Fuhaku returned to Kyoto and looked after Joshinsai's affairs for four years. In 1755, Fuhaku again returned to Edo and established the Renge-an within the Kanda-Myojin Shrine, whereupon he gave instruction in the tea ceremony to a wide strata of society, from daimyo and wealthy merchants to townspeople and artisans. In 1773 he retired to the kumi-yashiki (residence for general samurai) of the Mizuno family, however he remained active in the tea ceremony for more than thirty years until his death in 1807.
Subsequent generations served as tea masters for the Shingu clan in Edo or as tea instructors to the Tokugawa family in Mito; however, at the end of the Edo period, during the time of the fourth master of the Renge-an (Shinryu-sai), they returned to Shingu (Wakayama Prefecture). At the beginning of the Meiji period, the seventh master of the Renge-an again returned to Tokyo and restored the chado in Ikenohata, and he was known as the restorer of Edosenke. The ninth master, Myogen-an, was an invalid, so his family and friends provided support to the master. Therefore, Myogen-an, while he was still living, passed on the role of master to his eldest son, Myoshin-an Sosetsu, who succeeded to the position of tenth master. However, three years later, upon the death of Myogen-an, Myogen-an's younger brother, Fushiki-an (不式庵) Kansetsu, also took the title of tenth master and independently started the Edosenke Soke Renge-an. In order to distinguish between the two, and for the sake of convenience, Edosenke is called Edosenke (Ikenohata) and Edosenke Soke Renge-an is called Edosenke (Yayoi-cho). Edosenke Soke Renge-an has foundations called the Edosenke Chado Association and its fellow organization, the Fuhaku Association.
The Kawakami Hamacho school was originated by Soju KAWAKAMI, a leading student of Fuhaku who established himself in Hamacho, and successive generations served as tea masters to the Arima family in the Kurume clan. In this line, during the time of the fifth master Renshin Sojun (蓮心宗順) after the Meiji Restoration, there were many ardent students of tea ceremony, including Donno Masuda and Kyohei MAGOSHI. However, during the time of the sixth tea master Suren Sojun (素蓮宗順), the house in Hamacho burned to the ground as a result of the Great Kanto Earthquake, and the position of tea master was temporarily discontinued. The seventh master, Renshu Sojun (蓮舟宗順), was engaged in business for a while after graduating from the Tokyo University School of Law; however, after the war he restored the lineage in Koenji and it henceforth became known as the Omotesenke Fuhaku school. It has a foundation called Fuhaku-ryu Hakuwa-kai (Fuhaku School Hakuwa Association).
Elsewhere, in the tea ceremony passed on from Sotsu ISHIZUKA, a student of Fuhaku, masters in the Meiji period were famous for their exchanges with Tenshin OKAKURA, and again, in the tea ceremony passed on by Ihaku KAWAKAMI, another student of Fuhaku, one of the masters was Shigeru KISHIDA, the wife of Ryusei KISHIDA, who was designated as the sixth master of Ihaku KAWAKAMI and then restored the Edosenke Ihaku school.
History
Edosenke Soke Renge-an
The first through ninth generations were the same masters as the Edosenke, but some masters used different names or titles.