In reply to a telegram the Iemoto dips his brush in ink and writes this beautiful, well-spaced, but humble letter about manners, money, and modernity. Zui'o Sosa (1837-1910), Letter to Takeyama Kanshichi (1854-1907), Ink on paper, 54 x 103 cm (21 ¼ x 40¾ in.) Mounting 50.5 x 165 cm (19¾ x 65 in.) The Meiji Restoration of 1868 was a turning point. And tea culture went through a period of decline. One of the reasons for this was the fact the supportive classes, the feudal lords

This letter is about fish and poetry, about gratitude and sorrow. Ishikawa Jozan was a prominent Samurai recluse, garden designer, and literatus but he also was a teacher. And one of his students was Tsuda Masazane, an influential statesman with a serious hobby. I respectfully read your letter written on the eighth day of this month. And for the ten mackerels from Noto [mackerel is a signature product from Noto. As is tea from Uji or Sake from Itami, and not to mention Whale

Takuan Soho was the prototypical early Edo monk scholar with a sharp, witty, and untamed spirit. Dressed in a monk’s robe he pursued erudition in the broadest sense. He not only studied Buddhist texts but also the Chinese classics. Takuan also excelled in various arts. He was a painter, poet, writer, calligrapher, gardener, and a tea master. And he was the advisor, confidant, and the teacher of noblemen, among them the famous swordsman Yagyu Munenori and, some say the legenda

No doubt that Shibata Zeshin was the most prominent lacquer artist of the nineteenth century. And Ikeda Taishin (1825–1903) was his most accomplished and most promising student. But in February of 1856 he left. Taishin left his master, his workshop, his master's house where he has been living for mor than twenty years. And Taishin left for his Grand Tour. A year later he returned and established his own studio in Asakusa, just around the corner from Zeshin. Taishin's first st