Kobori Enshū

Kobori Enshū (小堀 遠州, 1579 – March 12, 1647) was a Japanese aristocrat, garden designer, painter, poet, and tea master during the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

In this role, he designed many tea houses including the Bōsen-seki in the subtemple of Kohō-an at the Daitoku-ji, and the Mittan-seki at the Ryūkō-in of the same temple as well as the Hassō-an.

Kobori Enshu (1579-1647) was a feudal lord active in culture and administration as a senior vassal of the Tokugawa Shogunate in the early years of the Edo period.

In addition to tea ceremony, Enshu’s aesthetics continue to influence Japanese art, calligraphy[5], and architecture today.

Two generations later, the 14th Iemoto, Sochu, expanded the scope of the family’s influence, including an appointment as the tea ceremony instructor to Her Imperial Highness Princess Kikuko of Takamatsu.

The Kobori Enshu School of Tea Ceremony continues to play a role in generating appreciation for traditional Japanese culture at home and abroad.

Iemoto, which means “House at the Source,” are families, headed by a Grand Master, who preserve and teach arts such as Noh Drama and Tea Ceremony.

There are presently about 200 schools of Tea Ceremony in Japan, but only a handful that trace back to the founding years in the late 1500s and early 1600s.

She often collaborates with artists, musicians and butoh[14] dancers, organizing tea ceremonies at contemporary art exhibitions and performances abroad.

Fuyuko is not only responsible for passing on her family’s culture to the next generation, but she is also breaking into a role that has been served only by men as heads of their Iemoto households.

She plans to pursue research on women and traditional culture as her life's work and is the proud mother of two sons, Masanobu and Masanao.

The aesthetic sense brought by Enbori Kobori was also reflected in the world of flower arrangement, which was established as a style, and flourished especially in the late Edo period[15].