Sen Dōan

Who was Sen Dōan?

Sen Dōan was a Japanese tea ceremony master. He was the eldest son, hence the blood descendant and natural heir, of Sen no Rikyū, born between Rikyū and Rikyū's first wife, known as Hōshin Myōju. His brother-in-law was Sen Shōan, and one of the reasons for the complexity of the family lineage after Rikyū is that Shōan, rather than Dōan, became the Sen family successor.

Sen Dōan was born in Imaichi, in the city of Sakai in present Osaka Prefecture, the original home of Sen Rikyū and family. Shōan, who not only was his step-brother but was also his brother-in-law and was the same age as himself, established a house in Kyoto, and with this there arose the "Sakai Sen House" and the Kyoto Sen House. Dōan inherited the Sen estate in Sakai, but he had no offspring or heir, and so the Sakai-Senke came to an end with his death.