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Raku Bowl Firing

This clip of a Raku bowl firing comes from the 1989 film Rikyu, which follows the life of tea master Sen no Rikyu during a turbulent period of Japanese history. Rikyu worked closely with Tanaka Chōjirō, the founder of the Raku tradition. The firing of Raku bowls is unique. The 16th-generation Raku master Kichizaemon described it like this: “We fire the kiln by introducing air via a pair of hand-operated bellows to burn the binchōtan charcoal, the hardest and longest-burning of all types of charcoal. The sparks that fly up seem like a dragon rushing up into the sky. Being there during the process of a bowl’s birth is like peering into the molten core of a volcano. Like being present when a cosmos is being created.”