A mountain abode in the city

There is an anecdote about Rikyū at the time he became Jo-o’s disciple. Rikyū went to the garden Jo-o had told him to clean, but the garden had already been thoroughly swept, and there was nothing more for him to sweep. Without hesitation, Rikyū shook a nearby tree, allowing leaves to scatter over the ground. Watching him, Jo-o is said to have praised Rikyū for his sensibility to nature despite his youth. Rikyū felt that a garden with a few leaves scattered about was more tasteful than one where they had been meticulously swept away. This example clearly reveals Rikyū’s sense of wabi. It exemplifies the “mountain abode in the city” wabi-cha ideal.

From Urasenke Chado Textbook (Kyoto, 2011)