Furuta Shigenari

Furuta Shigenari (古田 重然), more familiarly known in Japanese cultural history as Furuta Oribe (古田 織部), was a warrior and celebrated master of the Japanese tea ceremony. He was originally a retainer of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His teacher in the tea ceremony was Sen no Rikyū. He became the foremost tea master in the land after Rikyū's death, and taught this art to the shōgun Tokugawa Hidetada. Among his other particularly famous tea ceremony students were Kobori Enshū and Honami Kōetsu. The kind of tea ceremony that he established is known as Oribe-ryū (see Schools of Japanese tea ceremony), and the style of ceramics that are attributed to his artistic influence are known as Oribe-yaki (see Oribe ware). He also designed a style of stone lantern (tōrō) for the roji tea garden, and it has come to be known as Oribe-dōrō.

During the year 1600, Shigenari received a 10,000-koku income. During the Osaka Campaign of 1615, Shigenari was forced to plot in Kyoto against the Tokugawa and the Emperor, on the behalf of the defenders of Osaka. After this event, Shigenari was ordered to commit suicide (seppuku), along with his son.