Koraku OGAWA (the sixth generation) (小川後楽 (6代目))
The sixth Koraku OGAWA (April 22, 1940-) is a master of sencha (green leaf tea) tea ceremony (the sixth grand master of the Ogawa school). His pen name is Tadao NARABAYASHI. He is a professor of Kyoto University of Art and Design, and is concurrently a director of the university. He also teaches at Kwansei Gakuin University as a part-time lecturer and at Bukkyo University as a visiting professor. His specialty is the studies of Japanese culture and the history of traditional performance arts.
Brief Personal History
Born in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture
Graduated from Japanese History Major, College of Letters, Ritsumeikan University in 1963
Learned the history of ideas of the early-modern Japan under Tatsuya NARAMOTO, and entered Kyoto Research Institute of Art and Culture after graduation
Succeeded to the grand master of the Ogawa school of sencha tea ceremony in 1971
Took office as a visiting professor of Kyoto University of Art and Design, and is currently a professor
Having visited China in 1979 for the first time, he has made 1 to 3 visits to China almost every year paying a total of around 40 visits to that country. Also, he has so far studied abroad for a short time in such educational institutes as Shaanxi Normal University, Yunnan Nationalities Institute and Peking University. Based on his great interest in the roots of the tea drinking culture, he has repeatedly conducted a number of field surveys of noted brands of tea, culture and history of tea, etc, in various parts of China. He has gained a profound knowledge of the Chinese history, or the history of tea drinking in China in particular, which he has so far imparted to people through newspaper and magazine articles, radio and television talks and giving lectures, on the theme of the Japanese and Chinese histories of tea drinking.
In recent years, he has been doing a number of field surveys, together with other researchers including Hiromasa AMASAKI, Director of Research Center for Japanese Garden Art and Historical Heritage (in Kyoto University of Design and Art), for the research on the sencha-related factors observed within the spatial characteristics of the gardens of the modern times.
He was in charge of the section relating to 'sencha culture and sencha-related factors' of the thesis entitled 'Research on Sencha-related Factors Observed within the Spatial Characteristics of the Gardens of the Modern Times' which was announced by the center in 2005, and exhibited his research findings in the thesis.