Kobori Masakazu
Kobori Masakazu (å°å € 政一, 1579 - March 12, 1647), better known as Kobori EnshÅ« (å°å € é å·ž), was a notable Japanese artist and aristocrat in the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
In 1604, Kobori received as inheritance a 12,000-koku fief in ÅŒmi Province at Komuro. He excelled in the arts of painting, poetry, flower arrangement, and garden design. His accomplishments include garden designs for the Sento Imperial Palace and Katsura Imperial Villa (Kyoto), KÅdai-ji, Sunpu Castle, the Nagoya Castle keep, BitchÅ« Matsuyama Castle, and the central enceintes of Fushimi Castle, NijÅ-jÅ (Kyoto), and Osaka Castle.
Kobori though was known best as a master of the tea ceremony. His style soon on became known as "EnshÅ«-ryÅ«". In light of Kobori's ability, he was tasked with teaching the 3rd Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu the ways of tea ceremony. In this role, he designed many tea houses including the BÅsen-seki in the subtemple of KohÅ-an at the Daitoku-ji, and the Mittan-seki at the RyÅ«kÅ-in of the same temple.
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