Raku pottery was developed in 16^th century Japan for use in the tea ceremony. In keeping with the tea ceremony, raku was thought to enshrine the Zen Buddhist aesthetics of simplicity and elegance. The word ‘raku’, roughly translated as ‘happiness’, was actually a title bestowed on the family of potters who originated the process. It is important to note that the traditional Japanese process did not include the final ‘smoking’ part of the process, the pots invariably being left to cool down in the open air. This modification was only introduced (by chance) some 40 years ago by the American potter Paul Soldner. Smoking produced much more interesting and subtle effects than those from the traditional method, and the process came to be widely adopted as the ‘western style’.

Notwithstanding its western modification, the historical relationship of raku to Zen Buddhism remains very important. It helps define both the raku process, as an exploration of chance and spontaneity, and the raku pot, in embodying individuality and creativity. Indeed, it can be argued that a raku potter can only truly claim that title once he or she captures (or is captured by) the spirit of raku. As Paul Soldner puts it, “One must embrace the element of surprise. Make no demands, expect nothing, follow no absolute plan, be secure in change. Learn to accept another solution and prefer to gamble on intuition.”

The raku process

Western style raku (see below) has three main stages:

1. Glazing

2. Firing

3. Smoking (or “reduction”)

Glazing

Glaze is applied to the pot by spaying and /or painting. Glazes are made up of various powered minerals mixed with water. Typical raku glazes include metallic oxides of copper, iron, tin or cobalt. Different glaze recipes give different colours, textures and finishes.

Firing

Pots are heated very rapidly in a gas fired kiln. Temperatures of around 1000 centigrade are typical (about 5 times hotter than a domestic oven).

Smoking

When red hot the pots are removed from the kiln and placed in a contained partly filled with sawdust (or other combustible material). The sawdust immediately catches fire and the container is then covered – extinguishing the flames. Deprived of oxygen from the air, but still hungry to burn, the red hot pots take oxygen atoms from the clay and the glaze. It is this reaction, including the associated smoking and carbonisation, that produces the special raku effect.

Because there are so many uncontrollable variables in the entire process – including the chance that any piece may not survive the rapid change of temperature to which it is subjected! –raku can best be regarded as a series of planned uncertainties.

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