Takeno Jō'ō

Takeno Jō'ō (武野 紹鴎, 1502–1555) was a master of the tea ceremony and a well-known merchant during the Sengoku period of the 16th century in Japan.

His father, Nobuhisa, changed the family name to Takeno, and after roaming the country, settled in Sakai, where he built up a thriving business dealing in leather goods used by warriors.

Nobuhisa married the daughter of a priest of Kōfukuji temple in Yamato Province (present-day Nara Prefecture), Jō'ō's mother.

[1] While carrying on the family business in Sakai, Jō'ō, whose common name was Shingorō (新五郎), did religious duty as an attendant at the Hongan-ji temple in the Yamashina, Yamashiro Province (nowadays Kyoto).

Evidence shows that until the age of thirty-five, he aspired to become a teacher of renga (group poetry composition involving verse-linking).