noun
person of refined taste; aesthete; tea ceremony master
Refers to someone deeply versed in traditional Japanese arts, especially tea ceremony, and possessing cultivated aesthetic sensibilities. Often used in historical or cultural contexts.
彼は茶の湯に通じた数寄者として知られている。
He is known as a tea ceremony master with refined taste.
数寄者の集まりで骨董の話に花が咲いた。
At the gathering of aesthetes, conversation about antiques blossomed.
noun
lecher; lewd man
Archaic usage; originally a euphemistic or indirect way to refer to a man of loose morals, derived from the same word 好き者 (sukimono). Rare in modern Japanese.
See also: 好き者
古典文学では、数寄者という言葉が好色な男を指すことがある。
In classical literature, the word 数寄者 can refer to a lecherous man.
好き者 is the more common and direct term for a lecher or a person with strong (often amorous) desires, while 数寄者 is a homophonous but distinct word emphasizing aesthetic refinement, or an archaic euphemism for the same lecherous meaning.
From 数寄 (suki, 'refined taste, aesthetic pursuit') + 者 (sha, 'person'). The reading すきしゃ is a specialized term distinct from 好き者 (sukimono). The archaic sense of 'lecher' likely arose from a euphemistic use of the same characters, influenced by the overlapping meaning of 好き (suki) as 'fondness' or 'desire'.