In contrast with previous heads of the school, who had had a rather passive Zen-style attitude, Seichu GENGENSAI was a cheerful and active person with expertise in not only the tea ceremony but also flower arrangement, the traditional incense-smelling ceremony and Noh songs, who created such new methods of tea ceremony as chabakodate (a tea serving method using a tea chest) and ryureishiki (a style of tea ceremony using chairs to sit on) and also restored wakindate (a tea serving method using wakin or traditional Japanese cloth.)
それまでの歴代が禅的消極的であったのに対し、茶道以外にも華道、香道、謡曲などに通じていて、茶箱点や立礼式の創始、和巾点の復興など、明朗で積極的な人であった。