An old man carried a portable tea set to the scenic spots of Kyoto — to riverbanks, temple gardens, hillside paths — and brewed Sencha for whoever came. He charged what people could afford, or nothing at all. That man was Baisao, and the style of tea he lived by became the foundation of the Sencha culture most Japanese people practice today. The Edo period was the era that made it possible.
Baisao and Koyugai — The Man Behind the Name
Koyugai (1675–1763), also known as Baisao, was born to a doctor of the Hasuike domain (present Saga Prefecture). He became a monk under Kerin Osho of the Obaku sect Ryushin-ji temple. For nearly fifty years he practiced asceticism within the Zen Buddhist tradition, reaching a level of scholarship that would later make him one of the most intellectually sought-after figures in Kyoto.
His monk name was "Gekkai Gensho." The name Koyugai came later, through a misunderstanding that he found amusing. When asked about his way of life, he replied in a self-deprecating way — but listeners thought he was describing an elegantly refined existence. He adopted the misreading and called himself Koyugai, which means something close to "elegant wanderer" in Chinese. The name stuck, and he used it for the rest of his life alongside Baisao.
As more cultural figures were drawn to his personality, people began calling him "Baisao," or "old tea seller." He gradually set aside his priestly name, used "Koyugai" alongside Baisao, and continued selling Sencha. In old age, as his strength declined, he stopped selling tea and died at 89.
Tsusentei: A Tea House Without Walls
Disappointed by what he saw as the corruption and political entanglement of the Buddhist world, Baisao left the priesthood entirely and moved to Kyoto. There he opened a small tea house he called Chatei Tsusentei — "tea pavilion for becoming an immortal" — and began selling Sencha to anyone who would come.
The signboard of Tsusentei read: "The cost of tea ranges from 2,000 koban (more than 100 million yen today) to half a penny (about 30 yen today). Just give me as much as you want to. You can drink it for free. We cannot make it any cheaper." The point was simple: Baisao wanted anyone, regardless of means, to be able to drink tea and experience what it offered.
Tsusentei was not a conventional business. Baisao also took his portable tea set to the riverbanks, temple gardens, and hillside paths of Kyoto — wherever people gathered. The tea came to the people, not the other way around. This mobile practice was something genuinely new in Edo-period Japan, where tea had long been associated with the enclosed rooms of the powerful.
What Baisao Built: The Foundation of Senchado
Baisao disliked what the tea ceremony had become in his day: a formal practice tied to power. He looked instead to Lu Yu and Lu Tong of the Tang dynasty, treating tea as a source of honest pleasure rather than a performance of status. His stripped-down approach to Sencha spread beyond elite circles and eventually took shape as Senchado, the way of Sencha.
Kyoto remained Japan's leading cultural center, and Baisao became a well-known figure among the city's artists and literati. His education, his conviction, and his sharp wit drew people in. Among Baisao's contemporaries who gathered at Tsusentei were artists like Ito Jakuchu (1716–1800) and the poet-painter Yosa Buson (1716–1784). Later figures — Watanabe Kazan, Rai Sanyo, Tanomura Chikuden — were born after Baisao died, but they inherited and extended his spirit through what became the Bunjinga (literati painting) revival of the late Edo period. What all of them shared was an attraction to the idea that tea could be a space of genuine encounter, unmediated by ceremony or hierarchy.
The Burning of the Tea Utensils
When Baisao grew too old to sell tea, he burned his treasured tea utensils himself. He wrote about his feelings: "It was you (tea set) who supported me because I was poor and had no one to rely on. However, I cannot use you anymore. If I were to die and you were to be humiliated by vulgar hands, you would resent me. For this reason, I would cremate you."
This gesture — destroying objects of real beauty and value rather than allowing them to become relics or collectibles — was entirely in keeping with his philosophy. Tea utensils held meaning only in the act of making tea. Once that was no longer possible, their existence as objects served no purpose worth preserving. It is also a real loss that no physical record of "Baisao's style of tea" survives. But the spirit survived, passed on through the people he had gathered around a tea kettle for thirty years.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Baisao born, and where?
Baisao was born in 1675 in the Hasuike domain, in what is now Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. He died in 1763 at the age of 89 in Kyoto.
What was Baisao's real name?
His monk name was Gekkai Gensho. He later adopted the pen name Koyugai, derived from a playful misreading of something he said about himself. "Baisao," meaning "old tea seller," was an affectionate nickname that stuck.
Why did Baisao choose Sencha over Matcha?
Baisao rejected the formalism of chanoyu, the Matcha-based tea ceremony, which had become closely tied to social hierarchy and political power by the Edo period. Sencha offered a simpler, more direct relationship with the leaf — closer to what he admired in Tang-dynasty Chinese tea culture.
What happened to his tea utensils after he died?
Baisao burned them himself when he was around 80, well before his death. He felt it was wrong to let objects that had meaning only in use become collector's items passed around after he was gone. No physical tea set of his survives.
Why Baisao Still Matters
He left the Buddhist establishment and chose to build a life on his own terms. Tea sales became his livelihood, and he chose Sencha over Matcha because he resisted the empty formalism that had come to surround chanoyu. He wanted the place where tea was served to function as a salon, where people from different backgrounds could meet, argue, and think together.
People from across Kyoto society gathered around him, from ordinary townspeople to highly educated artists and writers. Over tea, they found space for conversation, disagreement, and mutual stimulation. That everyday pleasure — sharing a cup with people close to you, apart from the demands of daily life — is at the heart of what Baisao valued.
Baisao's idea — that good tea needs no ceremony, just honest leaves and honest company — is something we think about often at Far East Tea Company. Sencha is still the tea most Japanese people drink every day, not because of ritual but because of habit and pleasure. That daily, unpretentious relationship with the leaf is the one Baisao wanted. Browse our green tea collection and make a quiet cup of your own.