Sowa-ryu School (a school of Tea Ceremony) (宗和流)
Sowa-ryu school is one of the schools of tea ceremony.
History
Sowa KANAMORI's grandfather, Nagachika KANAMORI, was a military commander who served Nobunaga ODA, Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI, and Ieyasu TOKUGAWA, and learned tea ceremony from SEN no Rikyu. Sowa's father, Arishige KANAMORI, who was adopted by Nagachika, learned tea ceremony from SEN no Doan, and was also an excellent master of tea ceremony.
Sowa KANAMORI (the first head) was at the beginning in the care of Takayama Domain as a legitimate son of Arishige, but later disinherited the family lineage and moved to Uji in Kyoto in order to dedicate himself to learning the art of tea ceremony. Although it is thought that he was at first influenced by the tea ceremony of Doan as his father was, he gradually perfected his own elegant style, called 'Hime Sowa,' which was created as a result of his friendships with the court nobles such as Emperor Gomizunoo, as well as having had the influence of tea ceremony masters such as Shigenari FURUTA and Enshu KOBORI. When there was an offer for Sowa to serve Toshitsune MAEDA, the third lord of Kaga Domain, as a tea ceremony master of the house, Sowa declined it and instead had Shichinosuke (七之助) Masauji, the second head of the family, serve the lord. From this time, Kanamori family served Kaga Domain in Kanazawa, and controlled over the land worth 1,700 koku (approximately 306,000 liters of crop yields).
Kanamori family came to its end of the line at the time of the seventh head of the family Tomonao, and the lineage of the head family was inherited by Naomasa TAGA (多賀直昌), who became a new head on recommendation. Despite the fact that Naomasa TAGA, the eighth head of the family, received the territory worth 5,000 koku (approximately 900,000 liters of crop yields), he retired in order to concentrate on tea ceremony when he became the head. He was known as Chuko, the one who revived the lineage. Although the lineage of Kanamori family was later continued by Nobuyuki KANAMORI, the biological son of Tomonao, it is unknown what happened to the family after Meiji period.
As the younger sister of Sowa married Mitsumasa KOIDE, the lord of Toki Domain in Izumi Province and a Sowa's disciple, Sowa-ryu school was practiced in Toki Domain as well as in Takayama Domain. After Takayama Domain became tenryo (a shogunal demesne), the tea ceremony of Sowa school has been mainly practiced in temples to this day.