Raku Ware: The Tea Bowls of Kyoto's Raku Family
No ceramic is more closely tied to the tea ceremony than Raku ware. It was born in Kyoto in the late sixteenth century, when the potter Chōjirō began making tea bowls to the taste of the tea master Sen no Rikyū. The bowls were quiet, dark and irregular, the opposite of the precious Chinese wares then in fashion, and they became the purest expression of wabi tea.
How Raku is made
- By hand. Raku bowls are not thrown on a wheel. They are shaped by hand and then pared with a spatula, so each one has its own form.
- Low fire. They are fired at a relatively low temperature, one or a few pieces at a time.
- From the kiln, glowing. Black Raku bowls are drawn out with tongs while the glaze is molten and cooled quickly, which gives the glaze its deep, slightly glossy black.
- Soft and warm. The open body holds heat and is gentle in the hands and on the lips.
Black and red
Kuro Raku, black Raku, is the most austere. Aka Raku, red Raku, is fired at a lower temperature, and its soft salmon to brick tones come from a red clay slip under a clear glaze. Later generations added white and other glazes, but black and red remain the heart of the tradition.
A family line
The name Raku is said to come from a seal bestowed through Toyotomi Hideyoshi, taken from his Kyoto palace, the Jurakudai. The workshop has passed from generation to generation ever since, each head taking the name Raku Kichizaemon. The present head is the sixteenth generation. Each generation has its own style, and bowls by acclaimed earlier heads, such as the third, Dōnyū, also called Nonkō, are national treasures of ceramic history.
Alongside the main line, related workshops known as wakigama, side kilns, made Raku-style ware. The best known is Ōhi ware in Kanazawa, founded in the seventeenth century by a potter who trained with the Raku family and still continuing today. The artist Hon'ami Kōetsu also made celebrated Raku bowls.
Reading boxes and seals
Raku tea bowls are almost always kept in a fitted paulownia box. The inscription on the lid, the hakogaki, names the piece and is signed and sealed by the potter. Many bowls also carry a seal impressed into the body. Some boxes bear a second inscription by a tea master, often the head of one of the Sen schools, who may also have given the bowl a poetic name.
- Compare the seal on the bowl with the generation named on the box.
- Check that the box fits the bowl and has aged with it.
- Inner and outer boxes, cloths and documents all strengthen the record.
Because Raku bowls are highly valued, copies and later imitations are common. Read our guide to authenticating Japanese art for the wider principles.
Raku in the West
Outside Japan, raku often means something different: a firing method in which hot pots are placed in sawdust or leaves to create smoky, crackled and metallic effects. It was developed by American potters from the 1950s onward and owes its name to Japan, but it is a separate practice.
Using a Raku bowl
Rinse the bowl in warm water before making tea, so the body does not absorb the tea unevenly. Dry it thoroughly, away from sun, before returning it to its box. Never use a dishwasher or microwave.