TEBINERI

Here is a video of the master potter, Raku Kichizaemon XV making a chawan and carving/ tooling the foot. The excerpt  comes from an NHK television special and shows the tebineri process of making a piece without the wheel. There are three main methods of making Raku chawan;  tebineri, made without the use of a wheel, kurinuki-carved out technique in which the bowl is literally carved out of a mass of clay and lastly, the wheel thrown, pinched and manipulated style. The most traditional style is that of hand making the pot, without the use of the wheel and stretches back to the early 1600's among Raku potters.  For those of you, uninitiated to the chawan of Raku Kichizaemon XV, he works in both traditional styles as well as making nearly avant-garde chawan that border on sculpture. Either way, his work has added a monumental leap to the Raku tradition.