Kyoto - Raku Museum

Since all the staff members who would be helping me raku had the day off Friday, I wasn't going to be able to fire until today, Saturday. Having finished whatever glazing I could do, and not being able to build anything so late in the month, there would be virtually nothing for me to do here, so I decided to go to Kyoto for the day. I wondered around Kyoto Station, the Imperial Gardens, Gion, and a couple of shopping arcades, just glad to be in a different, busier, and more exciting environment for a change. It was a very enjoyable trip, but most of it was not at all related to ceramics. However, I did spend part of the afternoon at the Raku Museum, and that is worth telling about here.

The Raku Museum in Kyoto is a wonderful, tiny little museum that shows a bit of the history and process of raku. You can see the museum's website here - www.raku-yaki.or.jp - it has pages available in English as well as Japanese, although the English is just a little awkward at times. When Andrew and I were staying in Kyoto before I came to Shigaraki, we went to the Raku Museum, and saw their usual displays - one piece from each master of the Raku family, a variety of other raku implements, and a display of items used for the very traditional ways making raku - saggars, bellows, tools, etc. I was so glad to have a chance to see all this, and when I decided to spend another day in Kyoto, I naturally wanted to go back to view it all again while it was so convenient.

When I arrived yesterday afternoon, though, I had a bit of a surprise - the exhibits were completely different! The Raku Museum is currently celebrating their 30th anniversary, and in recognition of that, they are displaying a special selection of items chosen by Kichizaemon, the 15th Raku family master. As you might guess, I am SO glad I went back. There were different works on display from the masters, as well as important works (mostly tea bowls) from other family members and ceramic artists, and other pieces of important tea-ceremony ceramic ware. They also had acquired a screen painting by Toeki Unkoku, which I believe had once been displayed in one of the temples in Kyoto.

As if that wasn't enough, as I was leaving there was a tour group of foreigners just arriving, and they were being shown a video in English about raku and the Raku family - a video which I hope I can find somewhere and purchase for myself! I was able to join them and see most of the video, and I learned so much about the processes the family uses. What is even more interesting is to see the differences between the Raku family's methods, and the process we used for today's firing. (And yes, I will be posting photos from that very soon!)