Raku ware A type of traditional Japanese pottery. Crafted by the Raku Kichizaemon family. A simple type of pottery for painting unglazed pottery. Black Raku Tea Bowl Raku ware is pottery shaped by hand and spatula without the use of a potter's wheel, using a technique called "hand-kneading." It is fired at 750°C to 1,200°C and coated with a soft glaze. Works made by successive heads of the Raku family (Tanaka family), who produced Raku tea bowls, are also called Raku ware. Kanazawa's Yahei ware (later Tamamizu ware) and Ohi ware, which developed this technique, are also types of Raku ware. In a broader sense, it refers to all ceramics made using the same technique. Reflecting the tastes of Sen no Rikyu and others, it is characterized by its slight distortion and thick shape due to hand-kneading. Rikyu likened the narrow tea room to a "cave" and the Raku ware tea utensils to "mud," commenting that they evoked the "tea ceremony" that is performed without human hands or skill. They are also used for tea ceremony utensils (tea bowls, tea utensils, pitchers, vases, incense containers, lid holders, water dispensers, etc.), charcoal utensils (ash containers, fire containers, incense burners, etc.), and kaiseki utensils such as mukozuke. The design features a beautiful illustration of Mount Fuji. It measures 11cm in diameter x 6.7cm in height and weighs 320g.