In 1522, Sen no Rikyu was born here as the son of Sen Yohei, a Sakai fish wholesaler. Known in childhood as Yoshiro and later as Soeki, he eventually became a disciple of Takeno Joo and studied wabi-cha. Serving as tea master to Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi during Japan's unification, he led the tea ceremony of the Azuchi-Momoyama era. The residence preserves the "Camellia Well" said to have been used by him in his youth — a tangible trace of the tea master's origins.