Murata Tōin – Kuro Raku Chawan (Black Raku Matcha Bowl)

Black raku is the tea bowl at its most essential, and this kuro raku chawan by Murata Tōin shows why. The glossy black glaze pools and shifts over a softly irregular, hand-formed body — no two faces of the bowl catch the light the same way, with hints of deep amber and gunmetal moving beneath the surface.

Raku bowls are shaped by hand and carved, never thrown on a wheel, so the gentle undulations of the rim and walls are the direct record of the maker's fingers. In the hand it sits exactly as a raku bowl should: light for its size, warm to the touch, and quietly commanding.

Murata Tōin (村田陶隠) is a Kyoto raku maker working in the Kiyomizu tradition, whose black raku tea bowls are carried by established Japanese tea-utensil houses. This bowl carries his impressed seal on the base and comes with its original tomobako, signed "Tōin-zō" (made by Tōin) with the artist's seal.

Artist: Murata Tōin (村田陶隠), Kyoto
Type: Kuro raku (black raku) chawan, hand-formed
Origin: Kyoto, Japan (Kyō-yaki / Kiyomizu ware)
Dimensions: 11.9 cm × 8.7 cm H
Weight: 327 g
Marks: Impressed artist's seal on the base; tomobako signed 陶隠造 with seal, lid inscribed "Kuro Chawan" (黒茶盌)
Condition: New
Box: Signed tomobako (共箱) with ribbon and wrapping cloth

Raku ware was born for tea. In 16th-century Kyoto, the tile-maker Chōjirō, working under the guidance of tea master Sen no Rikyū, created a new kind of bowl — hand-formed rather than wheel-thrown, pulled glowing from the kiln at the peak of firing, and finished in humble black. It was the perfect vessel for Rikyū's wabi tea: quiet, direct, and made to be held.

Kuro raku remains the most formal choice of tea bowl in many schools of tea to this day. The soft, porous body insulates the hands, the black glaze makes whisked matcha glow, and the light weight surprises everyone who lifts one for the first time.

Raku is low-fired and slightly porous, and rewards a little ritual. Before each use, briefly rinse the bowl with warm water — this preps the body and helps prevent staining. After use, rinse promptly, never soak, and never use detergent, dishwashers, or microwaves.

Dry thoroughly with a soft cloth and let the bowl air-dry completely before returning it to its box — trapped moisture is raku's only real enemy. Treated this way, a raku bowl grows more beautiful with every year of tea.

This is the exact bowl and signed box photographed — once sold, it will not be restocked.

Shipped double-boxed with the tomobako directly from our Kyoto studio via Japan Post EMS, fully tracked and insured.