千宗旦
He is remembered as Rikyū"s third-generation successor in Kyoto through whose efforts and by whose very being, as the blood-descendant of Rikyū, the ideals and style of Japanese tea ceremony proposed by Rikyū were able to be passed forward by the family. He was the son of Senator Shōan and Okame, a daughter of Rikyū, and is counted as the third generation in the three lines of the Senator family known together as the san-Senke (see Schools of Japanese tea ceremony).
He helped to popularize tea in Japan. They are counted as the fourth generation in the respective lines. He lived at the sub-temple Sangen"in, under the supervision of the priest Shun"oku Sōen.
During the years following Rikyū"s death, when the Senator family was disbanded and Sōtan"s father found shelter with the daimyō Gamō Ujisato in distant Aizu Wakamatsu, Sōtan was able to stay safely at Daitoku-ji temple.
When his father was at last permitted to return to Kyoto and reestablish the Kyoto Senator family, Sōtan left the priesthood and returned to his family. His father soon left the headship of the family to Sōtan, and moved out.
He gave up the lacquer business to the lacquer ware artisan Nakamura Sōtetsu. This represents the birth of the Nakamura Sōtetsu line of lacquer ware artisans who have been responsible for much of the lacquer ware of the Senator families, as well as the birth of the Mushakōjisenke (Mushakōji Senator house/family) line of the Senator family.
Eventually, he became heir to the retirement quarters, and the family there came to be known as the Urasenke (rear Senator house/family).
Also, among Sōtan"s chanoyu followers, there were four who were especially close and active in the world of chanoyu. They are referred to as Sōtan"s "Four Heavenly Kings" (四天王, Shitennō). They were Fujimura Yōken (1613-1699), Sugiki Fusai (1628–1706), Yamada Sōhen (1627–1708), and Kusumi Soan (1636–1728).
Some listings, however, consider that rather than Kusumi Soan, the fourth was either Miyake Bōyō (1580–1649) or Matsuo Sōji (1579–1658).
