豊臣秀吉と北野大茶湯 TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi and the Kitano Grand Tea Ceremony
豊臣秀吉は、千利休と親交が深く、1585年正親町天皇への禁中献茶の大役を利休に任せました。
利休の侘び寂びの影響を受けながら、秀吉は黄金の茶室を造るという個性も見せます。また、誰でもが参加できる茶会「北野大茶湯」を開催します。この茶会には美濃金山城主4代目森忠政も茶席を設け、「小
関の清水」を京まで運び、秀吉に献茶を行ったと伝えられています。
秀吉政権下においても、利休による侘び茶の大成をみるなど、安土桃山期において茶の湯は隆盛を極めました。
「軍師 黒田官兵衛の茶の湯きらい」
黒田如水で知られる秀吉の軍師黒田官兵衛は、「武士たるもの茶の湯のようなものにうつつを抜かすべきではない」と考えていました。しかし、天正18年(1590)秀吉が小田原征伐を行った際、秀吉から茶室に招かれた官兵衛は、茶室の中であれば何時間密談をしても他人から不審に思われることがないことに気付き、
以後茶の湯を学びはじめたといわれます。
TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi had an intimate friendship with the great tea master, SEN no Rikyū, and he nominated Rikyū to serve Emperor Ōgimachi at a special tea ceremony for the Court in 1585.
Despite having been influenced by Rikyū’s rustic wabicha-style of tea ceremony, Hideyoshi chose to express his individuality through a tearoom in which everything was decorated with gold. He also organized the ‘Kitano Grand Tea Ceremony’ in which everybody was free to participate. It is said that in order to hold a tea ceremony at this event, the fourth lord of Kaneyama Castle in Mino Province, Mori Tadamasa, transported water all the way from his domain to make tea to serve to Hideyoshi.
Under Hideyoshi’s patronage, Rikyū’s wabicha-style of tea ceremony grew in popularity and the tea ceremony reached its peak of development at this time.
The Great General KURODA Kanbe-e Initially Despised the Tea Ceremony
One of Hideyoshi’s generals, KURODA Kanbe-e, who also went by the name KURODA Josui, believed that ‘samurai should not become infatuated with the things like the tea ceremony’. However, during the siege of Odawara Castle he was invited to participate in a tea ceremony by Hideyoshi. Having attended, he realized that the tea room provided the perfect venue to hold secret discussions and thereafter he is said to have begun to study the tea ceremony.