RAKU Ryōnyū IX

Raku Ryōnyū IX was the ninth-generation head of the Raku ceramic lineage and the second son of Chōnyū VII. When his elder brother Tokunyū retired due to illness, Ryōnyū assumed leadership at the remarkably young age of fourteen, providing stability to the Raku household during a period marked by personal loss and disaster, including the death of Tokunyū, his father, his wife, and the devastating Great Tenmei Fire of 1789 that destroyed the Raku family studio. Despite these hardships, Ryōnyū emerged as a stabilizing and restorative force, producing commemorative series of tea bowls and rebuilding the family’s standing with crucial support from the Sen tea schools, particularly Sōtsutakusai of Omotesenke.

Ryōnyū’s long, sixty-five-year career is distinguished by continual stylistic evolution. He introduced bold trimming and spatula-scraping techniques to hand-molded forms, adding dynamism and ornamentation that significantly expanded the expressive range of Raku ware. His works can be dated by three seals used sequentially throughout his life: Hizen-in (pre-fire seal, ages 15–33), Naka-in (middle seal, ages 34–56), and Inkyo-in (retirement seal, ages 57–79). Upon his retirement in 1825, he adopted the name Ryōnyū and moved to Ishiyama in present-day Shiga Prefecture, where he continued to produce ceramics, often engraved with poetic verses, while also pursuing calligraphy, poetry, and spiritual studies.