Kagetsuan-ryu School (a school of Senchado [Japanese tea ceremony using Sencha, brewed green tea]) (花月菴流)
Kagetsuan-ryu school is a school of Senchado established by Kakuo TANAKA at the end of the Edo period. It was originally called 'Seifu-ryu School,' but later changed into the current name.
As a school of Senchado, it is one of the oldest schools along with the Ogawa-ryu school, and it is considered to be the representative of the 'master in tea ceremony.'
The current iemoto (head family of the school) is Koha TANAKA.
The first iemoto, Kakuo TANAKA
He was born in 1782 as a son of a sake brewer in Osaka.
His childhood name was 'Kamenosuke.'
He succeeded to the head of the family at the age of 16, and he changed his common name to 'Shinemon.'
He expanded his hobbies aside from his family profession, and because he also had a connection to Manpuku-ji Temple he became interested in Sencha.
He eventually built a tea ceremony room, 'Kagetsuan,' in his residence. He enshrined stone statues of Yu LU, Rodo and Baisao in his garden and he immersed himself in his interests as a literateur. His devotion was noted by the kuge (court nobles) and buke (samurai families), and in October, 1838, he received 'Sencha Iemoto,' written in calligraphy, from the head of the Ichijo family at the time.
He continued his efforts in training himself in various arts. In his later years he called himself 'Kagetsuan Kakuo' and worked to train his disciples. He called his training room and his disciples 'Seifu shachu' (Seifu troupe).
Summary
This school considers 1838, the year in which it received the calligraphic writing from the Ichijo family, as their founding year. Because it is the oldest school in Senchado, there are many branch schools established by its disciples who later became independent.
There are many of them such as 'Obaku Kagetsu-ryu School,' 'Obaku Baisa-ryu School,' 'Shuken-ryu School,' 'Shofuseisha,' 'Senchado Gakkai' and 'Fuinsha School.'
The temae (tea ceremony procedure) is considerably old-fashioned that retains the atmosphere of the Edo period.