1949-
male
raku potteru
Jikinyu, was born as Kakunyu’s eldest son of the 14th generation of the Raku family. His childhood name was Mitsuhiro, and he later took the name Sokichi.
After graduating from the sculpture department of Tokyo University of Arts in 1973, he went to Italy to study at the Accademia di Roma. During his stay in Rome, he learned the art of tea ceremony from Nojiri Tomoko. He returned to Japan from Italy in 1976 and his father, Kakunyu, died four years later. The next year, Jikinyu was given the title ‘Kichizaemon the 15th’.
His first solo exhibition commemorated the title Kichizaemon the 15th in 1983. He presented his novel and avant-garde raku tea bowls and tea containers in his solo exhibition “Tenmon” in 1990, making a big impact on the world of tea ceremonies and ceramic art. In 1997, he held the overseas exhibition “Raku A Dynasty of Japanese Ceramists” in Italy, France, and the Netherlands, and was the first to introduce the Raku family history in Europe, along with 50 of his own works.
In 2000, he was awarded the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Culture of France. In addition, he has received numerous awards, including the “Visiting Fellowship” at Princeton University, the Japan Ceramic Society Award, the Kyoto City Artistic Newcomer Award, the Kyoto Prefecture Culture Award, the Kyoto Art and Culture Award, the Japan Ceramic Society Gold Prize, the MOA Okada Shokichi Award and the Excellence Award, the 1st Oribe Award, the Mainichi Art Award, the Kyoto Prefecture Cultural Merit Award, and the Kyoto City Cultural Merit Award. In addition to ceramics, he designed the “Raku Kichizaemon Hall” and a tea room at the Sagawa Art Museum in Moriyama, Shiga Prefecture in 2007, and received 13 architecture and design awards, including the 17th AACA Award (Japan Association of Architects and Designers). Although he felt it important to keep the tradition of Raku ware that began from Chojiro, he started questioning the style that had been with him since his days as a young student at the Tokyo University of Arts. On July 8, 2019, his eldest son, Atsundo, inherited Raku Kichizaemon the 16th from his father, Kichizaemon the 15th, who retired his title and changed his name to Raku Jikinyu. His representative works are aka-raku teabowl ‘Hanasen’ and ‘Jochuka’, and kuro-raku teabowl ‘Shungiku’ and so on.
