RAKU WARE

Food vessels of various shapes and sizes: mukōzuke (small dishes or bowls to serve side dishes), covered bowls, lidded containers, and a variety of other vessels, which add a touch of elegance to Kaiseki cuisine, are indispensable for encapsulating the aesthetics of the tea ceremony and enhancing the sense of the season. Raku food vessels, with its fundamental black, red and white Raku, together with other alternatives such as green glaze, yellow glaze, and amber glaze, would offer a rich palette of colours as well as a variety of shapes and motifs to elevate and embellish the dishes. Being fired in the Raku kiln, they are all endowed with a feel of softness and warmth in the same manner as Raku tea bowls are.

This exhibition primarily features a group of mukōzuke and plates made by successive generations of the Raku family. While a three-colour glaze shallow bowl with Melons in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum is the only example of vessel attributed to the founder Chōjirō, the rest of Raku generations from the second Jōkei onwards, have produced a variety of Raku food vessels, all colourfully and decoratively diverse, as if they embody a myriad of seasonal flowers in full bloom.
In addition, the third gallery is dedicated to a chronological display of ‘Raku Tea Bowls Through the Centuries’, showcasing Raku tea bowls viewed by century.

A special display entitled ‘Raku ware in Traditional Kyoto Cuisine’ in the second gallery features exceptional Raku food vessels that come from the collection of renowned, long-established traditional restaurants in Kyoto, the display being made possible by their generous collaboration.

*The lenders of their collection to the exhibition are Kikunoi, Kyoto Kitcho Arashiyama, Kyoyamato, Hyotei and Wakuden.