Sen no Rikyū
Tai-an was designed by the great tea master Sen no Rikyū in 1582. Sen no Rikyū was named the tea master of Toyotomi Hideyoshi that same year, following Oda Nobunaga's death, and as Hideyoshi was battling around the area at the time, they often held tea ceremonies there. In fact it is often said that it was built for exactly this purpose.