Raku Jikinyū* was born in 1949 as the eldest son of Raku Kakunyū. He studied in Italy after graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1973. Following the death of his father in 1981, Raku Jikinyū succeeded to the Raku family headship as Raku Kichizaemon XV.
Raku tea bowls were first made in Japan's historical capital of Kyoto by a potter named Chōjirō (d. c. 1589) during the Momoyama period 450 years ago. Then, as today, their purpose was for drinking whipped tea (matcha) in the tea ceremony (chanoyu). The earliest identifiable example of Chōjirō's work is a powerfully sculpted two-colour lead-glazed tile ornament in the shape of a temple lion inscribed with his name and the date 1574. It was Chōjirō's sculptural ability that attracted the notice of the tea master Sen Rikyū (1522-1591) and led him to commission Chōjirō to make tea bowls for use in wabicha, the wabi way of chanoyu, of which Rikyū was Japan's foremost and most renowned advocate. A devotee of chanoyu who employed Rikyū as his official tea master, Hideyoshi gave Chōjirō permission to use Raku as a name. Being the pioneer of wabi tea bowls and the recipient of Hideyoshi's favour, Chōjirō is celebrated as the founder and first-generation head of the Raku dynasty. In 2019 the Raku dynasty was passed onto Raku Jikinyū's son, Raku Kichizaemon XVI, and is now in its sixteenth generation. These traditions and principles having been passed down from father to son, normally the eldest but sometimes the second or an adopted son, without written instructions.
Jikinyū has long been at pains to convey to non-Japanese audiences the proper meaning of Raku in respect of it being the name of a family dynasty that has been making Raku tea bowls continuously for nearly 450 years. Raku does not mean 'raku' in its usual Japanese senses of 'easy' or 'enjoyable'. Furthermore, it signifies much more than what is implied by the now global use of the term to mean a way of making ceramics using a firing method whereby glazed earthenware pots are placed inside a red-hot kiln and then, once the glaze has matured, removed with tongs so they cool rapidly in the outside atmosphere. This technique, which derives from Japanese Raku practice, was introduced to the West by the British potter Bernard Leach (1887-1979) when he returned from Japan to England in 1920 and become internationally popular after being taken up by American potters such as Paul Soldner (1921-2011) during the 1950s and 1960s.
Raku Jikinyū has devoted his career to exploring the possibilities of the traditional tea bowl format in a constant search for new modes of expression. His avant-garde style is characterised by sculptural modelling achieved by bold trimming and the creative use of the yakinuki firing method.
*Jikinyū is the name assumed by Raku Kichizaemon XV on his retirement from the Raku family headship on 8 July 2019.