Kobori Masakazu

nihongo|Kobori Masakazu|小堀政一 (1579-1647), better known as nihongo|Kobori Enshu|小堀遠州, was a notable artist and aristocrat in the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

In 1604, Kobori received as inheritance a 12,000-koku fief in Ōmi Province at Komuro. He excelled in the arts of painting, poetry, flower arrangement, and garden design. His accomplishments include garden designs for the Sento Imperial Palace and Katsura Imperial Villa (Kyoto), Kodai-ji, Sunpu Castle, the Nagoya Castle keep, Matsuyama Castle, and the central enceintes of Fushimi Castle, Nijo-jo (Kyoto), and Osaka Castle.

Kobori though was known best as a master of the tea ceremony. His style soon on became known as nihongo|"enshū-ryū"|遠州流. In light of Kobori's ability, he was tasked with teaching the 3rd Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu the ways of tea ceremony. In this role, he designed many tea houses including the Hoden-seki in the subtemple of Koho-an at the Daitoku-ji, and the Mitsuan-seki at the Ryuko-in of the same temple.