Kanyō (Infiltration, Nurturing) is a Black Raku tea bowl by Raku Kichizaemon XV (now Raku Jikinyū) that represents what Jikinyū describes as one of two paths in his practice: seeking new forms of expression while remaining grounded in Raku tradition. He characterizes his movement between this approach and more avant-garde experimentation as “swinging like a pendulum” between tradition and innovation.
Hand-modeled from traditional Raku white clay, Kanyō has a generous, rounded body rising from a distinct horizontal ridge beside the foot. Gentle undulations along the rim preserve variations created during the modeling process rather than imposing a regular contour. The bowl is covered in Jikinyū’s own formulation of the traditional Black Raku glaze made with Kamogawa stone, producing a surface that shifts between lustrous and subdued black. Near the lower body, yellow-green passages result from ash produced by the binchōtan charcoal traditionally used to fire the Raku kiln. The bowl’s accompanying tomobako (wooden carrying box) bears a Raku seal based on the character 楽 (Raku) bestowed by His Imperial Highness Prince Takamado.
The title Kanyō (涵養) carries the sense of nurturing or cultivating something gradually over time. Jikinyū relates the character kan (涵) to water slowly soaking into and permeating the earth, a fitting metaphor for a work in which centuries of inherited material and practice are absorbed, cultivated, and quietly transformed into an expression entirely his own.
