Black Raku is one of the two principal Raku lines, glazed and fired black. It is the more formal of the two and is particularly favoured for thick tea, since the black quietly sets off the deep green of the tea. Its composed severity expresses wabi directly, and it stands opposite the warmer approachability of red Raku.
History
Black Raku is held to be the root of the type, begun by Chojiro in the Momoyama period, and is described as the bowl that most fully embodies the spirit of Rikyu's wabi tea. Several of Chojiro's black bowls that Rikyu kept are among the most celebrated objects in the tradition. Later generations of the Raku family continued to make black bowls, and the differences between them are part of what a guest looks for.
In practice
Used chiefly for thick tea and in the colder months, where the visual weight of the black suits the more formal part of a gathering. Against a red Raku bowl the choice reads as a deliberate statement about the register of the sitting.
Sources
- 黒楽（デジタル大辞泉 / 精選版 日本国語大辞典） / コトバンク
Supports: 黒楽が「楽焼の一。黒色不透明の釉をかけて焼いたもの」であること
About this article
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Raku — fire your own tea bowlShape the clay, glaze it, pull it from the kiln — then use it in IppukuTerm info
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Related terms
- Chawan (tea bowl)chawan
The bowl in which tea is whisked and drunk — usually the most closely examined object in a gathering.
- Raku chawan (Raku tea bowl)raku chawan
Hand-formed, low-fired bowls made by the Raku family of Kyoto; the emblem of the tea Rikyu aimed at.
- Aka Raku chawan (red Raku bowl)aka raku chawan
Raku bowls with a soft reddish body under a clear glaze; warmer in feeling and suited to spring.
- Ido chawan (Ido bowl)ido chawan
The representative Korean bowl type — everyday ware reinterpreted by Japanese practitioners as an emblem of wabi.