Sen no Rikyū (1522-1591), known as the holy master of tea ceremony (chanoyu), had brought it to completion as wabicha (wabi-style tea ceremony) in the Azuchi-Momoyama Period. The newly established Rikyū’s style of tea ceremony had inherited the spirit of Zen teaching, which was blended with wabicha by Murata Jukō (1423-1502), and had constructed the foundation of the tea ceremony which has been practiced since then to the present day both in Japan and overseas.
The artworks of the Medieval Zen Buddhist culture, such as ink paintings and calligraphy, are the center of the museum’s collection and are closely related to the world of tea ceremony. The hanging scrolls of ink paintings and calligraphy created by the members of Zen Buddhist society have been applied in tea ceremonies as “the first” utensils which have been regarded as outstandingly important among tea things. It is the course of nature that the founder of the museum Masaki Takayuki (1895-1985) had started seeking for the way of tea and practicing the tea ceremony enthusiastically and, in the process, became interested in the Medieval Zen culture and building up his collections.
This exhibition focuses on the world of tea ceremony and introduces the hanging scrolls and tea utensils which had been actually used in the ceremonies held by Takayuki, or Tekitō as his tea name, including the hanging scroll of the portrait of Sen no Rikyū (accredited as Important Cultural Property), which is considered as a work of Hasegawa Tōhaku and the only image created before Rikyū’s death. Examples of Minato ware and Tani ware produced in Sakai, Senshū Province, which Takayuki took notice as the tea utensils made in his hometown, are also exhibited. Please enjoy the world of tea ceremony with the Masaki Collection founded by Takayuki.