Wabi-cha (わび茶; 侘茶; 侘び茶), is a style of Japanese tea ceremony particularly associated with Sen no Rikyū, Takeno Jōō and its originator Murata Jukō.
Generally, three main figures are credited with the development of the wabi-cha aesthetic form of chanoyu: first, Murata Jukō; then, Takeno Jōō; and finally, Sen no Rikyū.
Rikyū cited two poems from the Shin Kokin Wakashū poetry anthology of the early thirteenth century, as exemplifying his wabi aesthetic.
One, a favorite of Takeno Jōō's, is by Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241): Casting wide my gaze, Neither flowers Nor scarlet leaves: A bayside hovel of reeds In the autumn dusk.
The other, in which Rikyū found particular appeal, is by Fujiwara Ietaka (1158–1237): Show them who wait Only for flowers There in the mountain villages: Grass peeks through the snow, And with it, spring.