Born in 1544 into a warrior family in Mino Province. He entered Rikyu's school at a young age and was counted among the Seven Disciples. After Rikyu was ordered to commit suicide in 1591, he served as tea master to Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, called "the greatest tea man in the land." He also taught tea to the second shogun Hidetada. While inheriting Rikyu's serene wabi, he created "Oribe ware" — distinctive for its deliberately distorted forms and vivid green glaze — and developed a freely unconventional and innovative aesthetic called "Hyouge Mono" that pointed the way of tea in a wholly new direction. Oribe's aesthetic of distortion, asymmetry, and surprise is said to have influenced later modern art. After the Summer Siege of Osaka in 1615, he was accused of treachery on behalf of the Toyotomi and ordered by the Tokugawa to commit suicide. He was 72.

Known as "Hyouge Mono" (the eccentric), he possessed an extraordinary aesthetic sense. An innovator who found beauty in distortion and asymmetry, contrasting Rikyu's serene wabi.

Oribe ware, with its distinctive distortions and bold green glaze, is beloved to this day. His contribution of "dynamic" beauty against Rikyu's "still" beauty immeasurably expanded tea's diversity.