Omotesenke

Omotesenke is one of the three lines of the Sen family, along with Urasenke and Mushakōjisenke. Sen no Rikyū’s grandson, Genpaku Sōtan had four sons. One of them left the house, thus three successors continued Rikyū’s legacy establishing three tea ceremony schools: Kankyuan, Fushinan, and Konnichian. Omotesenke was called Fushinan, Urasenke was called Konnichian, and Kankyuan was called Mushakōjisenke referring to the location. Today, Omotesenke is the second biggest school of the Japanese tea ceremony.

Fushian is the tea room that was run by Sen no Rikyū himself and was handed to his great-grandson, Kōshin Sōsa. Since then, it has been inherited by the successive Grand Masters.

Kōshin Sōsa who was in the service of the Tokugawa family, collected and wrote down a lot of information and anecdotes about Rikyū to preserve his legacy as accurately as possible.

While Urasenke’s core value is the satisfaction of the guest, Omotesenke emphasizes simplicity both in movements and tools. The various utensils tend to be simple and plain, in perfect balance with each other. Omotesenke whisks the matcha less than Urasenke, making the tea’s surface less frothy, reminiscent of a lake leaving the center open and free of foam. While Urasenke prefers to use untreated bamboo, Omotesenke also uses “Susudake”: smoked, darkened bamboo tools.

The head of the school now is the 15th generation “Iemoto”, Grand Master Sen Sōsa.