Ueda Sōko
Ueda Sōko was a warlord who lived during the Momoyama and early Edo Periods. He is best known for founding the Ueda Sōko-ryū, a warrior class school of Japanese tea ceremony from Hiroshima. Ueda Sōko went by the name Satarō in his younger days and later Shigeyasu. He received his Zen practitioner's name of Chikuin by the 111th patriarch of Daitoku-ji,. Today his death plaque is enshrined at the Sangen-in sub-temple of Daitoku-ji, beside that of his long time teacher in the Way of Tea, Furuta Oribe. Sōko was held in high esteem by Toyotomi Hideyoshi for military exploits and as a tea master. In the Battle of Sekigahara, Sōko sided with Toyotomi's Western Army and was thus defeated. During the Siege of Osaka Summer Campaign, Sōko fought with Asano Yoshinaga on the Tokugawa side, and for this Sōko was given a pardon by Tokugawa Ieyasu.
In 1619, the Tokogawa shogunate assigned the Geishū Domain to Asano Nagaakira and Sōko relocated to Hiroshima serving Nagaakira. Sōko was given a fief of 17,000 koku of rice in west Hiroshima and the role of Chief Retainer of the Geishū Domain under Asano.
In 1632 at the age of 70, Sōko retired from military duties and devoted himself to the Way of Tea. He immersed himself in a life of chanoyu: crafting tea equipage such as bamboo flower vases, chashaku tea scoops and firing raku ware tea bowls. Sōko developed his own school of chanoyu known as the Ueda Sōko-ryū. The school of Japanese tea ceremony continues in its 16th generation today, with an unbroken bloodline to Ueda Sōko.
Ueda Sōko the Warrior and Daimyo
In 1585, Sōko was recruited as a samurai under Toyotomi Hideyoshi and awarded land equivalent of 10,000 koku of rice in Echizen. This gave Sōko daimyō status. Under Hideyoshi, Sōko was assigned the role of supervisor for the construction of the temple for the great Buddha statue at Hōkō-ji temple in Kyoto. Sōko was distinguished as a warrior for his exploits in the Kyūshū Campaign, Siege of Odawara, and Hideyoshi's Korean Campaigns. After many years of military success, in 1594 Hideyoshi awarded his niece to Sōko in marriage. Sōko sided with Hideyoshi's Western Army in the Battle of Sekigahara. After the Western Army's defeat, Sōko was welcomed by Hachisuka Iemasa the daimyo of Awa Province. As tea master to Iemasa, Sōko instructed chanoyu and built gardens and tea houses while in Tokushima. After three years serving Iemasa, Sōko was solicited by Asano Yoshinaga to join his clan ruling Kishū Province. Sōko came to Hiroshima in service of the Asano Clan as Chief Retainer and tea master of the Hiroshima Domain in 1619.Style of Chanoyu
Ueda Sōko attended Rikyū's chanoyu practice as a student for six years before becoming a student of Furuta Oribe for 24 years. Sōko was very close to Furuta Oribe and reverence for his teacher can be seen in the design of Wafūdō. Sōko more or less replicates Oribe's tea house 'Ennan 燕庵' in the tea house 'Enshō 遠鐘' built at Wafūdō. The only difference is the addition of an additional tatami mat in size, requested by Asano Nagaakira. In Enshō, Sōko recreated an 'Oribe-kaku' tea room. This is small, wabi-cha tearoom with an extra tatami mat added to the left of the alcove to form a small passageway. The mat can be partitioned off or used to accommodate more guests. After koicha, the extra mat called shōban-datami is used as a corridor for the guests to pass from the small wabi-cha tea room to the larger kusari-no-ma tea room. In the left wall of the alcove of an Oribe-kaku tearoom there is a window made with woven wicker that opens to the shōban-datami space. Oribe hung flower vases on this wicker window. All this was copied by Sōko. Oribe favoured the spacious, kusari-no-ma style tea room that takes its name from a hanging kettle suspended by a chain from the ceiling. Sōko also reproduced this at Wafūdō as a shin tea room. In Sōko's tea garden at Wafūdō, he uses a 'naka-kuguri' for guests to pass between the outer and inner roji – again used by Oribe.Sōko assisted Oribe in establishing a distinct genre of chanoyu for the warrior class referred to as buke sadō or 'warrior tea'. As a dedicated tea disciple of Oribe, Ueda Sōko designed the Wafūdō tea complex inside Hiroshima Castle to conduct the new sukiya onari format. This shows that he and Oribe where in close communication during the time Oribe contrived this new format of chanoyu with Tokugawa Hidetada.
From Sōko's tea house design and the provisions he made for conducting chaji, Sōko's style of chanoyu appears to be one that favoured a flow in proceedings, where guests experienced different gardens and tea rooms in the space of one gathering. This is in line with Oribe's style of tea rather than Rikyū's.
Sōko's tea aesthetics were also influenced by Rikyū. In the Notes from Sōko manuscript it is written: "The tips of Oribe's chashaku are free-flowing curves, but the tips of Sōko's chashaku have a bent or sharp angle, reminiscent of Rikyu's chashaku". Sōko is considered to have harmonised both Rikyū's wabi aesthetics and Oribe's aesthetics of hyōge.
Unlike Rikyū and Oribe who commissioned tea wares from artisans, Sōko made his own tea wares. In this pursuit he was one of the first warrior class teaists to craft o-niwa-yaki, tea bowls and other ceramic tea utensils fired in the garden of their castle residence.
The spirit of Ueda Sōko's chanoyu can be seen in the layout of his tea villa, Wafūdō. Pine trees were planted on the crossing bridge from the shoin residence to the tea pavilion to suggest crossing over to Jōdo During battle campaigns, Sōko would pass the time waiting for enemy forces by carving tea scoops. Examples are the chashaku named teki-gakure. The only extant calligraphy work of Sōko is the single line scroll 'I welcome no layman to my abode'「門無俗士駕」 zokushi. The implication of the characters is "Upon mastering oneself through discipline and cultivating morality, those without such education and taste for the arts cease to appear at one's door". Throughout a life lived in the turbulent Warring States period, Sōko pursued a style of chanoyu that developed quietude for the mind and strength of spirit, deeply influenced by Zen morality.
Sōko created his school of tea with view for it to be transmitted through future generations. Sōko invested the teaching of his style of chanoyu into two families, the Normura and Nakamura. This role was called chaji azukari or Chief Retainers of the Teaching of Chanoyu. The first of these were Nomura Kyūmu and Nakamura Mototomo. The families also served as Sōko's vassals, controlling fiefs of 100 koku of rice each, given to them by Sōko. Under Sōko's direction, the Nomura and Nakamura families taught and conducted chanoyu for the Asano and Ueda families. It is thanks to this structure that the Ueda Sōko-ryū continues to the present day.
Teacher, Furuta Oribe
Ueda Sōko learned from Furuta Oribe for 24 years. Daimyō Asano Yoshinaga had Ueda Sōko question Furuta Oribe about chanoyu on his behalf. Sōko recorded Oribe's responses and delivered them to Asano Yoshinaga. The studious work of Sōko compiling Oribe's teachings survives in the manuscript known variously as Question and Answer with Oribe and A Record of Sōho's Enquiries to Oribe. It is one of the central documents for understanding the chanoyu of Furuta Oribe. The manuscript was shared with tea master for the Tokugawa shogunate, Kobori Enshū. This proves that Ueda Sōko and Kobori Enshū shared intimate correspondence on chanoyu. Both were leading disciples of Furuta Oribe.The tradition of sukiya onari started during the rule of Tokugawa Hidetada, the second generation Tokugawa shōgun. Furuta Oribe was Hidetada's tea master at this time and assumed a directorial role in the development of sukiya onari, a format of tea gathering especially for the warrior class, designed for entertaining the shōgun and daimyō. Following Oribe's ideas, Ueda Sōko designed the Wafūdō tea complex inside Hiroshima Castle to cater for the new sukiya onari format. After entering the castle gates for an official visit, the shōgun would first enter a roji and participate in chanoyu as the first part of the visit. The tea gathering would proceed from the sukiya to the kusari-no-ma. Upon concluding chanoyu, the shōgun would cross to the shoin reception complex via a covered bridge where traditional entertainment from the time of the Ashikaga shogunate would take place. The current home of the Ueda Sōko-ryū is a reconstruction of the Wafūdō built by Ueda Sōko on the grounds of Hiroshima Castle. As such, it provides a rare example of the warrior style of chanoyu developed by Furuta Oribe and Ueda Sōko.