Raku Kichizaemon (楽吉左衛門)
The family of the Raku lineage has been centred in Kyoto since the mid-16th century. Chojiro, the founding figure, received the seal reading “Raku” from the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his technique and name passed down through generations. The system of single-heir succession means the head of the family takes the title “Kichizaemon” in each generation. Over the centuries the family preserved the making of tea bowls in the spirit of the tea-ceremony tradition, holding a continuous artistic lineage now into the sixteenth generation.
