Shaped entirely in the hands

Hanasennin placed a ball of clay in his hands and formed the bowl without a potter's wheel or a forming table. Forming the bowl, including adding the foot, took about ten minutes. He valued establishing the form through one continuous sequence of movements.

After natural drying, he used a purpose-made hera, a spatula-like carving tool, while the clay was partly dry. He carved the interior and refined the outer profile. The initial forming and later carving gave each bowl its own thickness, contour and balance in the hands.

Clay selected firsthand

Hanasennin sought out clay himself and judged it by touch and plasticity. When necessary, he blended in kibushi, a highly plastic Japanese clay, to obtain the qualities needed for shaping entirely in the hands. His work began with assessing the clay rather than simply using a prepared material as it was.

A kiln and tools for one bowl

Hanasennin built a small wood-fired kiln from refractory bricks for firing one bowl at a time. The bowl was loaded and drawn through an opening in the side, and red pine was used for the glaze firing. He also designed the iron kiln lid and the long kiln tongs, commissioning an ironworks to fabricate them.

Rather than adapting his work to standard equipment, he created the kiln and tools needed for the bowl he intended to make. This approach connected forming, carving and firing as one practice.

Firing one bowl at a time

Hanasennin's production records give an approximate firing range of 800 to 1,000°C. Glazes and firing conditions varied between Red Raku and Black Raku. Each bowl was placed into the heated kiln, observed as the glaze matured, and drawn with long kiln tongs to cool outside the kiln.

These temperatures describe Hanasennin's own kiln and practice; they are not universal firing instructions for all Raku ware.