07/10/2026
'What's it?' Wednesday
We had heard of a type of pottery called “Raku Ware” but this week realised we weren’t entirely sure how to spot it.
What is it?
Raku is a distinctive type of pottery originating in Japan. It is characterised by dramatic crackled glazes and smoky black areas, latterly with multiple random bright colours.
There is a difference between antique Japanese Raku wares and modern British though in the construction process and the addition of colour but the outcomes are still classed at Raku.
Raku originated in Japan in the 16th century. It was closely connected with the traditional tea ceremonies. This is how the name came about, so the story goes.
It is said that a Kyoto potter, Chōjirō, in the late 1500s waa making hand-formed tea bowls for the tea master Sen no Rikyū. There is a Japanese ideal called 'wabi-cha' which centres around finding beauty in simplicity, imperfection and naturalness and his tea bowls fulfilled this ideal fully.
The name Raku, which in Japanese roughly translates to comfort, pleasure, ease or enjoyment, became associated with Chōjirō's family through this work and his descendants continued making Raku pottery for generations and actually continues in Kyoto today.
Raku pottery is unusual because it’s not thrown on a potter's wheel. A classic Raku tea bowl was formed by hand, then carved and shaped.
It was also fired at a fairly low temperature and, instead of allowing a whole kiln-load to cool in the normal way, pieces could be removed from the hot kiln individually. This unusual firing added to the uniqueness of Raku.
Early Japanese Raku will look simple and restrained. Mostly it comprises black Raku and red Raku tea bowls which we now tend to associate with the word.
The colourful, rainbow-sheened Raku more commonly seen today is Western-made. Contemporary Raku developed from the Japanese tradition but was altered during the 20th century.
Today the Raku potter will typically remove individual pieces from the kiln, as is tradition, but, while they are still red hot, they will place them into a combustible material - sometimes sawdust, sometimes paper, maybe leaves. The material ignites and covers all or part of the pot. Restricting oxygen in this way creates areas of blackened unglazed clay (caused by carbon production), fine crackle lines and beautiful copper, turquoise, blue, green and metallic effects. The process also means that every firing will be different.
When you look at the base of a piece of modern Raku you'll often see the bare clay with clearly smoke-blackened areas.
So, two quite different looking items will still be Raku depending on whether traditional Japanese or Western contemporary but we now understand how the production process connects them.
