Komazawa Risai (駒沢利斎)
Risai KOMAZAWA was one of the Senke Jisshoku (The Ten Craftsmen of the House of Sen). It is a professional name of headship passed down through a family of joiners who have made shelves, incense containers and hearth frames for the three Houses of Sen.
After the death of the fourteenth generation in 1977, the position of headmaster has been vacant for a long time, and Hirozo YOSHIDA (吉田博三), a son of the fourteenth Risai KOMAZAWA's nephew, is undergoing training in order to succeed the position.
History
The first generation, Sogen began working as a joiner during the Enpo era.
The second generation headmaster, Sokei, who became involved in the House of Sen, was ordered by Sotan SEN to make joinery. However, it was after the fourth generation, Risai, that they became more deeply involved in the House of Sen. He established a warm friendship with Kakukakusai, the sixth generation of Omote Senke (the main branch of the Senke school of tea ceremony), and was designated as a regular joiner for tea ceremony and given the name of 'Risai' by the House of Sen.
Since then, the head of the Komazawa family has called himself 'Risai.'
The seventh Risai, who worked vigorously in the late Edo period and was also an excellent lacquerer as well as a joiner, collaborated with both Seigen KURODA and Ikkan HIKI, and lived a long life, being called 'the restorer of the Komazawa family.'
After the seventh generation, however, the heads of the family died young one after another before achieving greatness. The thirteenth Risai lived up to seventy, but suffered the misfortune of losing his son who was born in his later years. After the death of the thirteenth generation, his wife Namie deicided to become the fourteenth Risai and have her daughter Chiyoko succeed her in the future, but the daughter died young in 1961, and she also died in 1977, leaving the position vacant to this day.