Portrait of Sen no Riky with his Death Poem early 17th century Painting by Unidentified artist This solemn portrait of the revered tea master Sen no Riky (1522-1591)—seated on a tatami mat, dressed in the robes of a Buddhist monk, wearing a cloth hat, and holding a closed fan—belies the tragic circumstances it commemorates. Brushed above the portrait is Riky’s death poem, composed just before he followed through on the command of the most powerful military leader of the day, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598), to commit ritual suicide (seppuku), on the twenty-eighth day of the second month of 1591 at the warlord’s Jurakudai Palace. Historians still debate over the reasons the megalomaniacal military leader ordered the foremost master of tea to take his own life, though it seems that at least one motive was that Hideyoshi could not tolerate anyone rivaling his own fame and cultural prestige.For the tragic occasion Riky’s composed a “departing this world” poem (jisei no ku), also sometim