Shōan’s father was Miyaō Saburō, who was a resident of Sakai and was a master at playing the Japanese hand drum (tsuzumi).
Following Rikyū's seppuku (ritual suicide) by order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Kyoto property where Shōan and family resided was confiscated.
Shōan went to Aizu Wakamatsu (present-day Fukushima Prefecture) where he lived under the protection of the warrior Gamō Ujisato.
When the Kyoto Sen household was reestablished, it was decided between Hideyoshi and Shōan that Sōtan, Rikyū's blood descendant who had been living as a young Buddhist trainee at Daitoku-ji temple during this period of family upheaval, should become acting head of the family.
It is believed that Shōan therefore retired early and moved to a small cottage called Shōnantei at Saihōji temple (see Kokedera), in western Kyoto.