Baisao (Japanese: 売茶翁, Hepburn: baisaō) (1675–1763) was a Japanese Buddhist monk of the Ōbaku school of Zen Buddhism, who became famous for traveling around Kyoto selling Tea and writing Poetry. The veneration of Baisao during and after his lifetime helped to popularize sencha tea and led to the creation of the sencha tea ceremony.[fn:1]
One of my favorite poets of some of my favorite poems.
His Tea shop was Tsūsen-tei (通仙亭), translated as "the shop that leads to sagehood": path of the wizard/hermit, but also a restaurant. His life as a tea seller was ascetic, the Buddhist-monk-turned-layman choosing to live in the dust of the city rather than resort to hermitage, he would wake and carry his teawares, a brazier and the a bamboo tube for donations, set up along a path in some temple or park and offer tea to passers-by.1 This is a constant daydream of mine, to set up a table somewhere and offer tea to strangers. Someday, I hope.
Resources:
Old Tea Seller_ Life and Zen Poetry in 18th Century Kyoto, The are my ongoing koreader annotations, some of my favorite poems are there.
EDOPEDIA https://edoflourishing.blogspot.com/2016/08/baisao-old-tea-seller.html
The Roaring Stream, a new Zen Reader https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=The+Roaring+stream+%3A+a+new+Zen+reader
Baisao's tea shop was named Tsūsen-tei, "the shop that leads to sagehood" fc
| position | ease | box | interval | due |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 2.80 | 8 | 1001.12 | 2025-12-29T07:21:05Z |
| 1 | 2.80 | 8 | 874.63 | 2025-09-30T16:53:26Z |
Footnotes
[fn:1]
Tea with Baisao, the old tea seller - Historical Tea Session - YouTube, Page 127 of the book: "the scrupulous routine of his everyday life, a religious practice in itself, was something most people failed to notice.↩︎