The word “Raku” could be loosely translated “most excellent” and was bestowed upon the Japanese potter Chojiro who was producing the finest pottery using this fast fire process. It became a family mantel and has been passed along for over 13 generations to present day.
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Raku is a ceramic firing technique where the pottery is heated at a very rapid rate, then removed from the kiln red hot with metal tongs. This process was discovered by accident over 400 years ago in Japan. After a natural disaster, Korean potters in Japan were enlisted to make enormous quantities of clay roof tiles. To speed up the production, they began to use metal tongs to remove the tiles from the kilns while they were still quite hot. Normally this “thermal shock” would shatter the pottery, but the clay being used was of an inferior quality having sand mixed into it. This made the clay more porous and allowed the heat to dissipate rapidly from the tiles. When the Japanese potters became aware of this, they began firing this way by intention. Small brick kilns were used to rapidly heat bowls and cups. The kilns were opened up at around 2000 degrees and the pottery was pulled out with tongs. This was very exciting for them because results were seen in a matter of hours, where before it took many days.
They eventually held ceremonies centered around these firing events, and would drink tea from the newly fired cups. In the late 1800s an English potter named Bernard Leach was touring Japan and was invited to a Raku ceremony, then wrote about the experience in his journals. Upon returning to England, he built a stoneware pottery production facility. In 1920 he invited guests to glaze their own raku pottery, then fire it in his large stoneware kilns. When the customers pots reached temperature he pulled them out of a small portal with metal tongs. Warren Gilbertson is probably the first American to introduce Raku pottery to this country. He returned from England and exhibited 250 pieces at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1941. The Japanese, English and now American potters were removing the red hot pottery to let it cool in the air. Another huge advance in Raku pottery happened in 1960, again quite by accident. |
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A 1930 lino cut showing Bernard Leach pulling customers Raku pots from his large wood fired stoneware kiln. |
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| Paul Soldner was in charge a small local art festival held at Scripps College in Claremont, California. In the past the potters had demonstrated throwing pottery on the wheel, but he was looking for something more dramatic. By this time Bernard Leach’s “A Potter’s Book” had become a worldwide success-called the “potter’s bible.” Paul Soldner was flipping through the book and came across a small paragraph about Raku. He decided to build a small kiln to demonstrate this process to the fair attendees.The kiln was heated with gas, and the red hot pots were pulled from the kiln to every ones entertainment. But Soldner was not very satisfied with the glaze results on the pottery. He was examining a still red hot pot on the ground when it rolled into a leaf from a nearby pepper tree. The leak caught fire and effected the glaze in a very spectacular way.
Upon further experimentation, Soldner discovered that these effects could be controlled using various combustible materials and covering the fire with a container. This process is known as “reduction” as it reduces the oxygen to the flames. Many remarkable “rainbow effects” can be achieved from a single color because the metallic particles in the glaze are drawn out. These effects and the “instant gratification” of the fast fire make Raku one of the most contagious of all art events to participate in as well as watch |
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