From Kamikaze pilot to the apostle of peace: the great master of the Sen Genshitsu tea ceremony died at 102
SEN GENSHITSU, former head of the Urasenke School of Ceremonies, is preparing tea for a war comrade in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, on September 22, 2024. Photo: Yuki Tsuru / AP / Profimedia
Sen Genshitsu, a great master of the Japanese tea ceremony, who has prepared Matcha tea for crowned heads and leaders around the world, died on Thursday at the age of 102, the Japanese press announced, according to AFP.
Having a motto “peace thanks to a bowl of tea”, Sen Genshitsu, a master of the ancestral school ceremony of Urasenke, wore pacifist messages throughout the globe.
He has officiated the tea ceremony at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York or at Pearl Harbor, where the Japanese attack on an American aircraft has precipitated the United States entry into World War II. As a result of his numerous trips to different places in the world, he has earned his nickname by the “great flying master”, according to Agerpres.
The death of the master was announced by the main Japanese media institutions, including the NHK television station and the influential daily Yomiuri Shimbun. AFP failed to get a reaction from Urasenke School to this time.
“A bowl of tea really brings peace into the soul.”
Born in 1923 in Kyoto, Sen Genshitsu prepared in his youth to be a Kamikaze pilot during World War II, but the conflagration ended before a suicide mission was assigned to him.
Later, the master told how he marked this experience and how the tea of the war weapons served.
The master explained in 2023, in an interview with NHK, the effects of the ritual: “A bowl of tea really brings peace in the soul. When everyone will be reconciled, there will be no war.”
Became Zen monk, Sen Genshitsu was named in 1964 the 15th great master of Urasenke, succeeding his father.
He served Japanese green tea Matcha to several monarchs and presidents, including the Queen of England Elizabeth II and Soviet President Mihail Gorbachev. He was also friends with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Chinese President Hu Jintao.
He remained active after he did not run the Urasenke school and gave speeches, sometimes over an hour, even after reaching the age of 102 in April. He still held numerous positions of cultural counselor or within the government, according to the daily Yomiuri Shimbun.
He was also an ambassador of goodwill for UNESCO, the United Nations for Education and Culture.
In 1997 he was decorated with the Japanese order for culture, and in 2020 with the Legion of Honor, the highest French distinction.
