Imai Sokyu

• Birth: 1520
• Death: 1593
• Distinction: Tea master, merchant
• Son: Sôkun (d.1627)

Sôkyû was one of Sakai's most important merchants and a member of the city's leadership council. When Oda Nobunaga demanded that Sakai acknowledge his authority, Sôkyû urged the council to submit and sent Nobunaga two valuable tea items as a good will gesture. Nobunaga awarded Sôkyû for his efforts by giving him a lucrative commission to supply firearms and gunpowder to the Oda. He instructed Nobunaga in the tea ceremony, advised Nobunaga and certain of his vassals in acquiring artworks, and as a tea master later enjoyed the favor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Sôkyû was also present for the Grand Kitano Tea Ceremony (1586).

References

• Initial text from Sengoku Biographical Dictionary (Samurai-Archives.com) FWSeal & CEWest, 2005
• Morgan Pitelka. "Art, Agency, and Networks in the Career of Tokugawa Ieyasu." in A Companion to Asian Art and Architecture. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, 450.