Or did tea ceremony make use of Merchants in Sakai?
(Photo: Nanshuji Temple in Sakai – Wikimedia Commons)
Many history books about Japanese tea ceremony introduce the so-called tea masters that followed Murata Juko. Among them are listed as below:
- Takeno Jo-o武野紹鴎 (1502–1555) a merchant in Sakai
- Kitamuki Dochin 北向道陳(1504–1562) a doctor in Sakai
- Tsuda Sotatsu 津田宗達(1504–1566) a merchant in Sakai
- Tsuda Sokyu 津田宗久(?–1591) a son of Tsuda Sotatsu, a merchant in Sakai
- Imai Sokyu 今井宗久(1520–1593) a son-in-law of Takeno Jo-o, a merchant in Sakai
- Sen no Rikyu 千利休(1522–1591) the first grandmaster of the tea ceremony, a merchant in Sakai
Where is Sakai? Why are there so many merchants in Sakai on the list?
Sakai is a port city just south of Osaka (where I was born and raised!). In the 16th century, merchants in Sakai benefitted greatly from lucrative trades between China as well as Portugal and Spain. Japan was in the middle of the civil war, and merchants in Sakai accumulated enormous wealth by trading things such as guns and leather (used for making armor).
The city of Sakai enjoyed a period of autonomous governance by such wealthy merchants. In his correspondence dated August 17, 1561, Gaspar Vilela (1526 – 1572), a Portuguese Jesuit missionary to Japan, wrote that Sakai was “an enormous city with abundant merchants. This city is governed by consuls like Venice in Italy.”
“Once you enter the tearoom, everybody is treated equally.” Such a rule in the tea ceremony was formed during this period. This egalitarian aspect, which was so unique in feudal Japan, is likely thanks to the economic power of those merchants in Sakai.
The autonomy of Sakai, however, didn’t last long. Soon the city had to give in to the superstar samurai Oda Nobunaga 織田信長 (1534–1582). Sakai escaped being burnt down by Nobunaga, mainly thanks to its rich trove of tea utensils.
Among the many samurai warlords, called daimyo大名, Oda Nobunaga gained power rapidly. He is regarded as one of the first great unifiers of Japan. In the course of gaining power, Nobunaga told Sakai to pay 20,000 Kan貫, a significant amount of money, if the city wanted to avoid being attacked by Nobunaga’s soldiers. Sakai accepted Nobunaga’s demand. Sakai’s merchants became Nobunaga’s powerful and reliable financiers.
Nobunaga took advantage of the valuable tea utensils, as explained previously. In order to survive, merchants in Sakai chose to go along with Nobunaga. The tea ceremony escaped his wrath.
Here you find contradictory aspects that co-exist within the practice of the tea ceremony. On one hand, the practice of tea allows you to contemplate the mystery of life, a spiritual aspect. On the other hand, the objects used for the tea ceremony represent monetary and material wealth, something quite secular.
I doubt if the tea ceremony could have survived for more than five hundred years if it only represented the spiritual side of life. The tea ceremony fueled human greed. And I believe this aspect shouldn’t be ignored when explaining the tea ceremony’s long-lasting history. Was it Nobunaga or merchants in Sakai that took advantage of the tea ceremony, or was it the tea ceremony that took advantage of the desire of human beings?