Raku Pottery

Raku Ware was originally from Japan in the town of Kyoto and was named after the Raku family during the 16th Century. At this time, the Emperor Hideyoshi had conquered Korea and the native potters immigrated to Japan bringing with them pottery techniques and knowledge. The pots were produced for the Zen Buddhist tea ceremony and the decorating and firing of the pots were part of the tea ceremony. There were a three-colored glazed pottery (San Cai) based on technology from the Fujian region of China. Chojiro had become acquainted with the tea masters of Sen No Rikyu in 1522-1591 and decide to make tea bowls for the ceremony Chanoyu.

We always wonder what, how and when the History of Japanese pottery is all about. The Japanese tea pottery was the ritual of all pottery. But, over four hundred years ago, Japanese Raku ceramics have been linked to the tea ceremony from the beginning the first Raku tea bowls that were created in Kyoto at the impetus of San No Rikyu in the late 1570's or in the early 1580's by a marker of roof titles called Chojiro.

During the 6th and 7th Centuries Japan was greatly changed by the importation of the Chinese and Korean Culture. This brought Buddhism, a writing systems, and new forms of government, Medicine and more Complex forms to Japan. Japanese and Korean ceramics techniques were assimilated into Japan but changed and adapted to meet local tastes. More technically advanced forms of pottery , including Chinese three-color lead glazes on earthenware, Korean higher temperature firing techniques and a greater range of shapes all came to be part of Japanese ceramic work. One of the most famous, perhaps the most greatly admired, for the Raku was Honnami Koetsu in 1568-1637, whose bowls display the solid strength and integrity so revered by the practitioners of tea.

Some of the techniques that were used in the making of Raku Pottery starts off, without using the potter's wheel. The potter begins with a round ball of clay, into which he or she continued to push in successive stages downward and outward, turning and compressing between the hands and fingers until arriving at more or less cylindrical shape with a more less straight lip that slopes inward. The base was then trimmed to form a round foot for support. A simple glaze is then applied, and firing was at a medium range for only two or three hours. Then, when the bowl glowed all the way through it was taken out of the kiln with long tongs and put into a container of