Furuta Oribe (1544-1615) was a military commander and tea master from the Momoyama period to the early Edo period. Born in Mino. He was born in Mino, called Sasuke or Shigesuke. He was a member of the Toki clan, a Mino feudal lord, but when Oda Nobunaga pacified Mino, he followed Nobunaga with his father, Shigesada, and after Nobunaga’s death, he belonged to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1585, when Hideyoshi appointed Oribe to the post of Sekihaku, Oribe also became Oribe-masa, the fifth highest-ranking official, and was given a fief of 35,000 koku in Nishigaoka, Yamashiro Province. After Hideyoshi’s death in 1598, he handed the reign over to his successor Shigehiro and retired to his own residence in Fushimi, where he devoted himself to the tea ceremony. He was on the Tokugawa side during the Summer Battle of Osaka in 1615, but was suddenly sentenced to death and committed seppuku (ritual suicide). There are various theories as to the cause of his death, but it is unknown.
He studied tea under Sen no Rikyu and was one of the seven philosophers of Rikyu. After Rikyu’s death, he became a master of the tea ceremony and served as an instructor of the tea ceremony for Tokugawa Hidetada, the second shogun of the Edo shogunate. He taught many feudal lords, including Kobori Enshu, and established the Daimyo Chacha style, while also showing great talent in the creation of pottery and tea houses.
