Raku Family

The term "Raku-yaki”, Raku ware, derived from "Jurakudai", the name of an architecture representing the Momoyama period at its peak towards late16th Century, which also became the family name of a ceramic dynasty founded by Chôjirô. It came into being when Chôjirô made a tea bowl to meet the tea aesthetics of wabicha advocated by Sen Rikyû, the leading tea master of his time.
Today, Raku ware is known worldwide as a form of ceramic technique. However, it was initially referred only to the wares made by the Raku family. The current headship Raku Kichizaemon is the fifteenth generation of the family. The house and the workshop are located on the west side of the former Imperial Palace in Kyoto, still maintaining a traditional Kyoto style architecture designed with "Inuyarai" and "Degoshi".
Through the lattice of "Degoshi", one could see the stone pavement of the entrance hall and a "Noren", curtain, hung overhead with the calligraphy reading "Rakuyaki Ochawanya”, literally Raku ware tea bowl workshop, which was presumably done by Hon’ami Kôetsu. At each succession of a new Raku headship, noren is renewed with the lettering based on the prototype left by Kôetsu that has been handed down in the family. The house was burnt by fire that broke out from the Imperial Palace in 1854, and the present structure was rebuilt afterwards. The premises are supposed to have been established during the period of Chôjirô, but the document only confirms the existence in reference to Dônyû, the third generation (1599 - 1656). The workshop and the kiln are located at the back of the main house, where the unchanged tradition kept over 400 years since the time of Chôjirô continued to flourish.

[Raku Generation] [Raku Family Reserch(Under Construction)]