Tea flourished under 織田信長（おだ のぶなが）and 豊臣秀吉（とよとみ ひでよし）, then 徳川家康（とくがわ いえやす）took over, and he was no fan of tea or any luxurious pastime and so the samurai weren't into it anymore. In the 18th century however, this changed again, when the samurai were mostly concerned with governance.
松平不昧（まつだいら ふまい）was a good governor of his fief, and managed to bring it from poverty to wealth. Then he saw how much money he had made and started to collect items.
His most famous two items where a 茶入 called 油屋肩衝（あぶらや かたつき）, and a scroll called 流れ圜悟（ながれ えんご）.
He was very proud of his collection and wanted to impart his personality on it, ordering his sons to maintain the collection's integrity.