Sen no Rikyu (1990)

Honkakubo, a disciple of Sen no Rikyu who had served close by his side until the end, shut himself away in a hermitage deep in the mountains after Rikyu’s ritual suicide. He lived in solitude, worshipping Rikyu’s memorial tablet and speaking to his apparition. Twenty-seven years after Rikyu’s death, Honkakubo is invited to a tea gathering hosted by Oda Urakusai. Though he was the younger brother of Oda Nobunaga, Urakusai had survived. He remarks that famous tea masters, including Rikyu, had all died by ritual suicide. Honkakubo asks him about the truth behind Rikyu’s death, but he still does not understand Rikyu’s true feelings. On his way back to the hermitage, Honkakubo remembers a tea gathering in 1588. Rikyu invited a learned high priest he knew, who had incurred Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s displeasure and been sentenced to exile. Rikyu served him tea after putting up a hanging scroll that had been entrusted to him by Hideyoshi, without permission. Honkakubo recalls being overwhelmed by Rikyu’s determination to confront Hideyoshi’s tyranny with all his might. Several months later, Urakusai unexpectedly visits Honkakubo’s hermitage. He says he has come to borrow a copy of a book by Yamanoue Soji, one of Rikyu’s most senior disciples, but envies Honkakubo for living with Rikyu’s memorial tablet. Soji had also been one of Hideyoshi’s tea masters. After provoking Hideyoshi’s anger, he was banished; the Hojo clan, with whom he had taken refuge, was defeated by Hideyoshi, and Soji was captured. In Hideyoshi’s camp, Soji was made to prepare tea for him, and, fully aware of the consequences, insulted Hideyoshi. It is said that he then took his own life by ritual suicide before he could be seized. As he talks with Urakusai, Honkakubo recalls a tea gathering of Rikyu’s that he had attended when he was young. From the tea room, he heard a guest say, “Nothingness does not make anything disappear. Death does.” Urakusai guesses that the guest must have been Soji. But Honkakubo does not know who the other guest was. On the anniversary of Rikyu’s death, Honkakubo visits his grave and meets Urakusai. Rikyu had prepared tea for many warriors before sending them off to battle. Urakusai says that Rikyu “made the tea room a place where people decided to die,” but that “the age of warring states is over.” He fondly remembers his late friend Furuta Oribe, who had been a brave man. Honkakubo tells him that he met Oribe in 1610. Oribe, one of Rikyu’s most senior disciples, had placed a bamboo tea scoop made by Rikyu as a keepsake in a container shaped like a memorial tablet, and told Honkakubo its name was “Tears.” After the Battle of Sekigahara, Oribe was suspected of having dealings with the Osaka side and was ordered to commit ritual suicide. Urakusai laments that he could have saved him. Oribe had not asked for clemency. Urakusai realizes that Oribe’s act was in loyalty to their master Rikyu, and understands that Oribe was the third person present at the tea gathering with Rikyu and Soji. When Honkakubo says that the three had made a pact to die, Urakusai gives a wry smile and says, “I won’t cut open my belly.” In 1622, Urakusai lies on his deathbed. Honkakubo rushes to his side and begins to tell him that, in a dream, he heard Rikyu’s final thoughts. Honkakubo recounts his dream: in 1591, Rikyu had been banished to Sakai, and his ritual suicide was set for two days later, when he was suddenly summoned back to Kyoto and met with Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi tries to console him, saying, “You don’t need to die.” Rikyu replies that only by being granted death did his arrogance disappear and did he attain “wabi.” Learning that Rikyu had died having attained a state of spiritual solitude, Urakusai imagines Rikyu committing ritual suicide, cuts open his own belly with an imaginary sword, and dies. Honkakubo returns to his hermitage, prepares tea, and continues along his own lonely path as a tea master.