The Tea Ceremony was an essential skill of the Hikone clan lords
Why did the tea master Ii Naosuke and his clan have such a deep knowledge of tea, and why were the Ii entrusted with the strategic Hikone Domain, east of Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, by the shogun in the first place? The answer dates to the decisive Battle of Sekigahara.
In 1600, the nation was divided into two factions, East and West, which resulted in history’s greatest of all samurai field battles fought at the gap between the mountain ranges dividing east and west Japan, at a place called Sekigahara. General Ii Naomasa, the first lord of Hikone Domain, served Tokugawa Ieyasu, leader of the Eastern forces, and as the victor of this decisive battle, Tokugawa Ieyasu would become Shogun. Although becoming Shogun, Ieyasu still did not have total control of the nation, not while the rival Toyotomi clan of Osaka and their supporters endured. Eastern Japan and Edo remained susceptible to attack from the Toyotomi Western forces. Hikone was a key strategic location on the Nakasendo highway, a bottleneck between Lake Biwa to the west and the mountain range to the east which the Toyotomi would have to pass through if attacking Edo. Hikone Castle was built to stop any such advance, and Ii Naomasa was entrusted with the important task of defending this important sector and thus began the history of the Hikone Domain.
As the Sengoku or Warring States period (1467-1615) wound down and the Edo Shogunate rose to power, Hikone Domain, which governed an area close to the capital, Kyoto, was tasked with building and maintaining a relationship of trust with the Emperor and the Imperial Court to keep them under the Shogunate’s control. One of the tools that served to accomplish this important task was culture, in particular, the tea ceremony. Despite it being called a tea ceremony, it required knowledge of various fields, including being well versed in the Zen spirit at its origin, skill in waka poetry, the basis for the words written on hanging scrolls, and the mei inscriptions on the tea utensils. Mastering the tea ceremony was essential in interacting with and building relationships with the people of the Imperial Court, who had acquired culture and knowledge from ancient times.
The lord of Hikone was required to communicate with people from different positions and cultural backgrounds, such as the Shogun, members of the Shogunate and the Imperial Court. To prepare thoroughly with the other person in mind, to be sincerely attentive to the thoughts of the invited guests, to realize that each meeting was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter, and to put these ideas into practice, he organized tea ceremonies at Hikone Castle and invited guests of all ranks and position, from the abbot of the family temple, to senior vassals and those from within the shogunate.
