The Ueda Soko Ryu tea ceremony school has been operated in Hiroshima for over 400 years. Its founder was highly respected warrior and artist Ueda Soko (1563-1650), who studied directly under famed tea masters Sen no Rikyu and Furuta Oribe, and was a favored tea practitioner among both the Tokugawa and Toyotomi lords. Presently in line to become the 17th-generation Iemoto (grandmaster) is Soko Ueda, 45, (spelled with different kanji), a former hip-hop dancer who returned to his family’s business at the Wafudo tea house in Hiroshima.
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