Koto-in,+Daitoku-ji,+Kyoto

=Koto-in, Daitoku-ji, Kyoto ( Fredria Sterling)=

Koto-in Photo Gallery
National treasures from both China and Japan are located there. It is visited less than other temples and it provides a quiet spot for contemplation.
 * Koto-in is a High Paulownia Temple located in Daitoku-ji, Kyoto. It is a sub temple on the western side of the large Diatoku-ji complex.

Hosokawa Tadaoki was the eldest son of Hosokawa Fiyilaka. Hosokawa fought his first battle at age 15 in the service of Oda Nobunaga. Along with his father he was given the province of Tango in 1580 and soon afterwards married the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide. In 1582 Akechi rebelled and after Nobunga was killed.

Battle of Sekigahara ( 21 October 1600) Tadaoki commanded 5,000 men in the Tokugawavanguard and clashed with the forces of Shima Sakon. He was awarded a fief in Buzen and went on to serve at the Osaka campaign's. He was succeeded by Tadatosh, an ardent enemy of Christianity and present at the Seige of Shimabara. In 1632 he received a huge fief in Higo.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi  (1536-98) was born in humble origins at Nakamura near Nagoya, but rose to be the first of the//daimyō// (warlords) to rule the whole of Japan, and is often referred to as ‘the Napoleon of Japan’. He first served Oda Nobunaga, joining his army originally as a foot soldier and fighting beside his master at all of Nobunaga's battles. He distinguished himself at Nagashino and at the taking of Gifu (1564). The opportunity for Hideyoshi came with Nobunaga's death. At the time he was conducting the siege of Takamatsu castle when the news of Nobunaga's murder was brought to him. He avenged the assassination by marching rapidly to Kyoto and defeating the army of Akechi Mitsuhide at the decisive battle of Yamazaki (1582). Taking control, he proclaimed Nobunaga's infant son as heir, which brought him into conflict with the old Oda supporters, whom he defeated one by one, culminating in the battle of Shizugatake in 1583. OnlyTokugawa Ieyasu now opposed him in central Japan. A battle between the two, at Nagakute (1584), was indecisive, and atruce was called. Toyotomi Hideyoshi then proceeded to make himself master of Japan. He pacified Shikoku island in 1585, and Kyushu island in 1587, where he defeated the Shimazu family. Hideyoshi was a consummate general with superb strategic and tactical skills, and was particularly successful in siegework. He won the castles of Takamatsu (1582) and Ota (1585) by flooding them through ingenious dyke systems which diverted rivers. Other fortresses were overcome by mining (Kameyama 1582) or starvation (Tottori 1581). In 1590 a long siege brought about the surrender of the Hōjō's Odawara castle, and the remainder of the northern //daimyō// soon submitted to him. Hideyoshi overreached himself only with the invasions of Korea which ended in failure. ** Tea Ceremony

A.
The tea ceremony involves preparing powdered tea for guests according to custom and enjoying its austere taste quietly and serenely. Influenced by Zen Buddhism, the tea ceremony seeks to purify the mind and attain oneness with nature.

The ceremonial serving of tea used to be exclusively practiced by nobles and priests who gave it its original form around the middle of the fourteenth century. Its popularity gradually spread to wealthy merchants, warlords during the era of civil warfare (in the 15th and 16th centuries), and their retainers.

The tea ceremony has been modified in many ways over the years. Until the end of the Edo period (1603-1868) it was practiced almost entirely by men; women joined in only after the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912).

There are many schools of tea ceremony, including the three Senke schools of Ura, Omote, and Mushanokoji. They all uphold the spirit of the ceremony while observing their own distinctive styles of preparing and serving tea.

