Person

Sen no Rikyū

1522–1591 · 16th century · Also known as Sen no Rikyu, Sen Rikyu

Sen no Rikyū was a Japanese tea master from a merchant family of Sakai who shaped the tea ceremony into its classic form. He served Oda Nobunaga and then Toyotomi Hideyoshi, for whom he organised great tea gatherings, and promoted wabi, a rustic and simple aesthetic. In 1591 he fell from Hideyoshi's favour for reasons still debated and was ordered to commit ritual suicide.

Sen no Rikyū
Image: painted by 長谷川等伯, calligraphy by 春屋宗園 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 state histories

SakaiToyotomi regime

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Sen no Rikyū. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sen-no-rikyu
MLA
“Sen no Rikyū.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sen-no-rikyu. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Sen no Rikyū.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sen-no-rikyu.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Sen no Rikyū’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sen-no-rikyu (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻