Sen-no-Rikyu

A member of the merchant class and tea master who was widely known from the Warring States period to the Azuchi-Momoyama period.

Tanaka Yoshirou was his childhood name. Later, he took the Buddhist name "Sen-no-Soueki." His professional name was Housensai. The well-known "Rikyu" was his Buddhist lay name in later life.

Known as the one who perfected the wabi-cha aesthetic of the Japanese tea ceremony, he rejected the established notion of valuing prestige for its own sake. His tea ceremony was a groundbreaking change, bringing a new set of values. As a retainer to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the ruler at the time, he also wielded influence over the feudal lords from the shadows.

Height/Weight: 132cm, 132kg

Origin: History

Region: Japan

Alignment: Chaotic-Evil

Sub-Attribute: Human

Gender: Female

She may appear svelte, but she possesses extraordinary physical strength, and is unbelievably heavy.

"Appearances are trivial. To be both honest and unembellished is the way of Rikyu."

"Hm? Did you see something? Huh? You think you saw a hand behind me? What a strange thing to say... Rikyu is quite perplexed."

As a wealthy merchant in Sakai, Rikyu was taken in by Oda Nobunaga as a tea master and used his skills in cha-no-yu, or tea ceremonies, but also in procuring guns and other items. After the Honnoji Incident, Rikyu served under Hashiba Hideyoshi, and he mediated between various feudal lords through cha-no-yu and wielded great influence on politics. Rikyu also had a profound influence on wabi-cha, creating a new style that was not bound by prestige. He had many disciples, namely the seven famous disciples called the Rikyushichitetsu, and spread his own style of cha-no-yu throughout the world. But his excessive influence created friction with Hideyoshi, and Rikyu's position both inside and outside the Toyotomi regime gradually weakened.

"There are things which can be protected if one yields to authority, but there are also things which cannot."

Rikyu's tea was known throughout the world for its completely new values of not being bound by tradition or formality. His uncompromising attitude in promoting his values appeared arrogant to others, and it even incurred the wrath of Hideyoshi, the ruler of Japan at that time, which led to him being ordered to commit seppuku.

"My life of seventy years, I lived to the very fullest. With my treasured blade, let my ancestors and the Buddha die with me. Using the sword that will do my bidding, as I release myself to the heavens."

Finest Wabi: A-

Rikyu spent his entire life seeking the ultimate aesthetic of wabi, or refinement, in tea, which was never attained. This skill is Rikyu's dark cha-no-yu drawn from the deep abyss of Rikyu's obsessive, almost monstrous heart, obsessed with refinement.

A Lone Flower: B

The world only needs but a single flower. This skill is a manifestation of Rikyu's arrogance. Rikyu never gave a second thought to anything other than the values he believed were worth pursuing.

Profound Black: A

Rikyu regarded black as supreme. This skill is a manifestation of Rikyu's madness in seeking to paint the world black, to turn it into a world of shadows.

Unfettered: B

Rikyu's concept of freedom of creativity dictated that etiquette were unnecessary in cha-no-yu. It encompasses both his all-important self-worth and magnanimous values.

"In other words, cha-no-yu is simply an act of boiling water, preparing tea, and drinking it."

"One Moment, Unrepeated"

Rank: C

NP Type: Bounded Field

Range: 1

Maximum Targets: 1

Ichigo Ichie.

A tea ceremony seat for one guest in a single pavilion prepared by Rikyu. It is the ultimate expression of cha-no-yu which Rikyu sought to complete in life. This Noble Phantasm involves the creation of a Bounded Field which takes the form of an extremely narrow tea room in a hermitage. The target is affected by Rikyu's tea of darkness and has no choice but to surrender their soul to Rikyu out of sheer admiration.

Those who are enclosed within the Bounded Field have their natural abilities restricted, and are forced to follow Rikyu's principles of the tea ceremony. The overwhelming pressure comes from Rikyu's soul, the monster of wabi, and its intense pressure is sure to crush those with a weak Spirit Origin.

"This is truly Rikyu's 'black.'"

While only one person can be targeted at once, it is possible to affect multiple people simultaneously. It is a boundary that is both profound and dreamlike.

Her ephemeral form (appearance) is of Komahime from the Dewa Province. Komahime was said to be the most beautiful woman east of Japan. Hideyoshi’s nephew, then-regent to the emperor, Toyotomi Hidetsugu, fell in love with her, and so it was arranged for Komahime to become his concubine. She left her home at the age of fifteen and headed to Kyoto to become the regent’s concubine.

...Or at least, that was what should have happened.

Shortly after arriving in Kyoto, Komahime received word that she was to be executed for Hidetsugu’s act of treason...even though she had yet to officially become a concubine. Various sides pleaded for a stay of this unfair execution. No longer able to ignore the many voices calling for mercy, Hideyoshi relented. However, the call came too late, and Komahime’s life vanished like dew on the Sanjō riverbed.

“I am without sin, yet this wicked world has stepped in to end my life.

If I am to go to the underworld with everyone, any sin which defied the five virtues shall be erased.

I will die by Amitabha’s sword, which punishes sinners.

But I have done nothing to prevent myself from ascending to paradise.”

Her body was not even returned to her family. It is said that she was instead thrown into a hole by the riverbed. Thus her soul wandered and eventually reached a certain location, where she fused with Rikyu to gain a Spirit Origin which became a Heroic Spirit. This happened to give Rikyu a chance to plot revenge against Hideyoshi. Taking over the body of the executed Komahime was done entirely out of spite for Hideyoshi.

Rikyu, who manifested to avenge the deaths of the weak and innocent, failed to realize that he himself was trapped in this delusion. While the kindhearted Komahime pitied Rikyu for his rage and delusions, she still wished to be with Rikyu, and thus Rikyu and Komahime became a single, mixed Spirit Origin...

“Be that as it may, I do not like matcha. It is bitter...”