Hand-Pinched Raku Tea Bowls: Key Features

No two bowls take exactly the same form. Rather than the even circle produced by a wheel, the maker's hands and carving determine the final profile — that is the hand-pinched Raku tea bowl. Three qualities define it.

What defines a hand-pinched Raku bowl

Forming and carving

Clay is formed by hand without a potter's wheel. When partly dry, the surface and profile are refined with a hera, a spatula-like carving tool, creating subtle variations in thickness and contour.

Tactile form and balance

Hand-forming and hera carving produce slight variations that are absent from a wheel-made circle. As a result, each bowl has its own tactile character and balance in the hands.

Individual firing

Raku tea bowls are generally fired at lower temperatures than high-fired stoneware and porcelain. Glazes and firing conditions differ between Red Raku and Black Raku; bowls may be placed into the heated kiln and drawn individually as the glaze matures.

Hanasennin's New Hand-Pinched Raku

In Fujisawa during the Showa 30s (1955–1964), Hanasennin—Kato Nagakazu—developed an independent method that used neither a wheel nor a forming table. He formed each bowl entirely in his hands and called the method shin-tebineri, or New Hand-Pinched Raku. He sought out the clay and built the kiln himself, establishing a practice of his own.