Hansō Sōshitsu

Sen Sōshitsu XV (十五代千宗室) refers to the 15th generation head (iemoto) of Urasenke, one of the most widely known schools of Japanese tea. Hōunsai (鵬雲斎) was a religious appellation that he received in 1949 from his Zen mentor, and it is the name that he generally is known by to distinguish him as the 15th Sen Sōshitsu.His son succeeded him as the 16th generation head of Urasenke, and inherited the name Sōshitsu, in December 2002. With that, Sen Sōshitsu XV discontinued his own use of the name Sōshitsu. He adopted the name Genshitsu (玄室) to use instead, and thus has officially gone by the name Sen Genshitsu since then.

He was born on 19 April 1923 as the first son born to the 14th generation head of Urasenke (Sen Sōshitsu XIV, Tantansai) and Tantansai's wife, Kayoko (nee Ito Kayoko), and was named Masaoki (政興) by his grandfather, the 13th generation head of Urasenke (Sen Sōshitsu XIII,Ennōsai). Throughout his childhood and youth, the name by which he was known was Sen Masaoki. Prior to his birth, Tantansai and Kayoko had already become the parents of two daughters, Yaeko and Yoshiko. The birth of their first son, Masaoki, the one who would eventually become Tantansai's successor, occasioned much jubilation. Later, Tantansai and Kayoko begot two more sons, Yoshiharu and Mitsuhiko.