After the passing of SEN no Rikyu, SEN no Sotan who succeeded Shoan (Rikyu's stepson) of a collateral line set up a residence in Kyoto and had his second son Soshu, third son Sosa and fourth son Soshitsu start Mushanokoji-senke, Omote-senke and Ura-senke, respectively, which marked the beginning of the three Senke but for all of the three Senke, Rikyu was defined as the first iemoto when numerating the subsequent succession of iemoto.
千利休の没後、傍系の少庵（後妻の連子）の後を継いだ千宗旦が京都に屋敷を構え、次男宗守・三男宗左・四男宗室にそれぞれ武者小路千家・表千家・裏千家を興させたのが三千家の始まりであるが、各家ともに家元は利休を初代として数える。