Schools of Japanese tea

They are known collectively as the san-Senke (三千家, "three Sen houses/families"), and consist of the Omotesenke, Urasenke, and Mushakōjisenke schools of tea.

Another line, which was located in Sakai and therefore called the Sakaisenke (堺千家), was also descended from the original Senke (Sen house).

The school named Edosenke (江戸千家, "Edo Sen house/family") is not descended by blood from the Sen family; its founder, Kawakami Fuhaku (1716–1807), became a tea master under the 7th generation head of the Omotesenke line, and eventually set up a tea house in Edo (Tokyo), where he devoted himself to developing the Omotesenke style of tea ceremony in Edo.

Some of the main buke-cha styles are the Uraku, Sansai, Oribe, Enshū, Ueda Sōko, Sekishū, Chinshin, Fumai, Ogasawara (Ogasawara family), and Oie (Ando family).

Among these, the Sekishū, whose founder served as tea ceremony instructor to the shōgun, developed a notably large number of branches, and spread widely into warrior society.