Ueda Sōko-ryū (上田宗箇流) is ōkoryūa cultural aesthetic practice, or tradition, of Japanese tea ceremony that originated within the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tradition is commonly called the Ueda Sōko Ryū or Ueda Ryū (Ryū meaning "Tradition" or "School" in Japanese). The founder from whom the tradition takes its name was Sengoku period warlord Ueda Sōko. The customs, etiquette and values of the samurai are woven throughout all aspects of the tradition's practice of chanoyu, a practice that has continued unbroken for over 400 years.
Ueda Sōko
After first serving Niwa Nagahide as a page, Ueda Sōko was later chosen by Toyotomi Hideyoshi as one of his aides and daimyō. Ueda learned chanoyu from Sen no Rikyu and Furuta Oribe before establishing his own style of chanoyu, deeply influenced by the values and customs of the samurai of the Sengoku period (mid 15th-early 17th century). Since Ueda's time the Ueda School has continued for 16 generations under an iemoto system. The present and 16th iemoto is Ueda Sōkei.
Ueda Sōko is famous as one of the leading garden designers of the Momoyama period (1568–1603). He is well known for designing and constructing many gardens listed in Japan as places of great scenic beauty. These include Shukkeien (Hiroshima prefecture), Tokushima Castle Front Palace Garden (also known as Senshūkaku-teien, Tokushima Prefecture), Nagoya Castle Garden (Ninomaru-teien, Nagoya prefecture), Wakayama Castle's Nishinomaru-teien and Kokuwadera-teien (Wakayama prefecture).
Following the Siege of Osaka (1614–1615), the Toyotomi clan was disbanded in 1619 and Ueda relocated to Hiroshima under his lord Asano Nagaakira who was to become daimyō of the Geishū Domain (Hiroshima Domain). Ueda was given a fief in the West of Hiroshima prefecture yielding 17,000 koku of rice (around 2,788 tonnes) and became Asano's chief retainer for the Geishū Domain.
As chief retainers of the Geishsū Domain, the Ueda family governed their land in West Hiroshima for generations. Sōko's chanoyu was passed down through the generations and continues to thrive today.
History
In 1619 (Fifth year of Ganwa Era), Asano Nagaakira was appointed as daimyō of the Geishū Domain, making him Lord of Aki Province and half of Bingo Province amounting to land of 426,500 koku of rice (roughly modern-day Hiroshima Prefecture). Ueda Sōko went to Geishū in special servitude to Lord Asano. Sōko was assigned a fief 17,000 koku of rice in the West of Hiroshima prefecture to go with his appointment as Asano's Chief Retainer. Sōko enlisted Nomura Kyūmu and Nakamura Mototomo as his vassals and granted them each a fief of 100 koku of rice. Sōko invested the teaching of his style of chanoyu to the two families (a role called "Chaji Azukari" or "holders of the teachings of chanoyu"). Under Sōko's direction, the Nomura and Nakamura families taught and conducted chanoyu for the Asano and Ueda families.
In the middle of the Edo Period the number of people practicing chanoyu was increasing. The Sen Traditions of Tea were the first to establish the Iemoto system around this time. Then during the Bunka and Busei Eras (1804–1819) the Sōden grading system was established, again by the Sen Traditions. The Ueda Sōko Tradition spread wider than just the Samurai class of Geishū. The Ueda Sōko Tradition was practiced by regular townsfolk and people throughout the Kansai and Chu-Shikoku regions. This called for a new level of formality around the teaching of the School. The retainers of the Ueda Tradition, Nomura Sōkyū, Nomura Yokyū, and Nakamura Taishin established a new Sōden System in 1839 (Tenth year of Tenbō Era). This new Sōden System placed Ueda Sōko's style of Tea into a form that was able to be transmitted in a systematic format through generations. It dictated the highest license, the Shin Daisu, was to be kept in the Ueda Family and the other licenses were to be issued by the Chaji Azukari. In the Sōko sama o-kikigaki or Notes from Sōko, there is the record "Sōko received a license from Oribe". This shows the Ueda Sōko Tradition transmitted through generations is a style of Tea heavily influenced by Oribe, and a tradition that places the Shin Daisu as the highest license achievable.