Edo Senke tea master’s visit coincides with opening of samurai exhibition

 

Cultural New, 2009 May Issue

 

A lecture on tea ceremony history by Edo Senke Master Kawakami Johsetsu was held at the Bowers Museum coincidental with the opening of the Samurai exhibition. (Cultural News Photo)

 

 

In this article, Japanese names are listed in traditional order with last names appearing first.

   

The eleventh generation of the Edo Senke tea school, Master Kawakami Johsetsu, came to Santa Ana in Orange County from Tokyo to attend the opening event of the exhibit “Art of the Samurai: Selections from Tokyo National Museum” at the Bowers Museum on April 19. The exhibit runs through June 14.

 

In spite of the fact that the Edo Senke school is usually overshadowed in tea circles by Kyoto-based Ura Senke and Omote Senke schools, Edo Senke played an important role in spreading Senke style tea in Tokugawa Japan in the middle Edo period, that is during the 18th century.

 

The founder of the Edo Senke school was Kawakami Fuhaku (1719-1807), who was a samurai from Kii Shingu domain (currently Wakayama Prefecture).  He was a close disciple of the seventh Grand Master of the Omote Senke school, Sen Joshinsai.

 

In 1750, Fuhaku was sent to Edo by Joshinsai to spread the Senke style tea ceremony because the main stream of tea school at that time in Edo was not Senke schools, but rather the Sekishu style.  In the middle of the 17th century, the feudal lord of Yamato Koizumi, Katagiri Sekishu had been appointed as tea ceremony master for the fourth Shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna.  Even though Sekishu had learned tea ceremony in the Senke style, his style was dubbed as the Sekishu style and became the main stream among samurai society in Edo. The reason for this was that the majority of feudal lords and elite samurai in Edo simply followed Tokugawa’s decisions.  

 

About a hundred years later, (mid-18th century), the merchant class became affluent enough to adopt the tea ceremony of the elite samurai.  This desire created a cultural vacuum in Edo which induced Sen Joshinsai to send Kawakami Fuhaku to Edo to spread the Senke style tea ceremony.

 

Fuhaku’s efforts paid off.  The Senke school became very popular -  not only among the merchant class, but also with large numbers of elite samurai who switched their allegiance from the Sekishu style to Senke style.

 

More than 40 feudal lords adopted the Senke school as their official tea master and brought back the Senke tea etiquette to their domains all over Japan.  

 

Edo Senke tea practitioners are spreading in Los Angeles

 

Bearing the title of Vice-Grand Master, Kawakami Johsetsu (who is the designated successor of the tenth Grand Master Kawakami Kansetsu) is currently teaching tea ceremony not only among Edo Senke followers, but also to international students at Gifu University on a regular basis.

 

To coincide with participation in the opening events of the samurai exhibition at the Bowers Museum on April 19, Master Kawakami Johsetsu’s first visit to Los Angeles was made possible by the Edo Senke practitioners and supporters in Southern California. These include the Edo Senke tea masters Soshin (Fumi) Akutagawa, Soue (Yaeko) Hosobushi, and Sohaku (Hiroko) Kodaka, as well as Mrs. Sanae Walters, Akutagawa sensei’s tea ceremony students, and Sanae Kodaka, who translated for Master Kawakami Johsetsu.

 

The opening day festivities at the Bower Museum began with a lecture on the "History of the Tea Ceremony in the Edo period" by Master Kawakami Johsetsu. 

 

This was followed by a Kimono fashion show presented by Mme. Fumi Akutagawa with her kimono class students and members of the LA Kimono Club.  Special guests modeling formal kimono were Terry Hara and his family.  Mr. Hara is Deputy Chief of Los Angeles Police Dept, in charge of operations in the West Bureau.  Mme. Akutagawa is a master of the Sodo Kimono School.  She teaches classes in kimono kitsuke and in Edo Senke tea ceremony at the Zenshuji temple in Little Tokyo on Tuesdays.  For class information, call (805) 529-0139. 

 

She and her students have been active for many years in promoting awareness of Edo Senke tea ceremony and Japanese culture in many schools in Southern California.

 

Later in the day, Dr. Morgan Pitelka of Occidental College in Los Angeles presented a lecture on the "Art of the Warlord, Shogun, and Diety: Tokugawa Ieyasu." 

 

In the afternoon Master Kawakami Johsetsu gave a demonstration of the Edo Senke tea ceremony, after which more than 70 guests were able to enjoy special sweets from Japan and usucha (thin tea).  The afternoon closed with a dance performance presented by Mme. Hisame Wakayagi and her Seiha Wakayagi School students. 

 

Throughout the day guests also enjoyed taiko drummers, the strategy game of "Go," various booths with Japanese arts including origami, paper lanterns and umbrellas, and face painting.