Grand Kitano Tea Ceremony

[1] Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a warrior of humble background who rose to eventually become the national ruler, recognized cultural knowledge to be as important an attribute of leadership as military might and took up the practice of chanoyu as a means of demonstrating his cultivation.

[4] Later that year, he announced to Nobunaga's three chief chanoyu advisors -- Rikyū, Tsuda Sōgyū, and Imai Sōkyū -- his intention of enlisting them in his own service.

[6] In 1583, he marked the opening of his newly completed Osaka Castle with a volley of ceremonies that lasted days and brought together both tea men and warlords.

On the 5th day of the 3rd month in 1585, he held a mammoth event at Daitoku-ji, heartland of Zen power in the capital and training ground for many men who became lay monks as part of their chanoyu practice.

As the focal point of the event, Hideyoshi set up a display of his collection within the abbot's quarters of Sōken-in, the subtemple which he himself had had built to commemorate Nobunaga's family.

He also had one of his three main men in charge of chanoyu matters, Tsuda Sōgyū, deliver a formal letter from him to the Hakata merchant Kamiya Sōtan, ordering him to come to Kyoto without fail and participate in the event, as he would be the only from Kyushu.

[14] Based on this historic event, the shrine organises every year the Plum Blossom Festival (梅花祭, baikasai), held on February 25, with a large offering of tea and wagashi to about 3,000 guests, served by geisha and maiko.