Raku Kichizaemon XVI was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1981. After graduating with a degree in Sculpture from the Department of Fine Arts at Tokyo Zokei University in 2008, he completed the Ceramics Course at a training program for the city’s traditional industries organized by the Kyoto Municipal Institute of Industrial Technology and Culture in 2009, then studied abroad in the United Kingdom. He began creating pottery at the Raku family workshop in 2011 and succeeded as the 16th-generation Kichizaemon in 2019. Founded by the first-generation Chojiro under the guidance of Sen no Rikyu, the Raku family of tea bowl craftsmen has continued to produce Raku ware for over 450 years and across 16 generations as the originators of the bowls used in the tea ceremony. As one of the Senke Jusshoku—the ten hereditary lineages of artisans who support the tea ceremony of the Sen schools—the family carries the name Raku, bestowed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and each successive head of the family assumes the name Kichizaemon while occupying that position. Raku ware is shaped by hand and refined with a trimming tool, without using a potter’s wheel, and fired at relatively low temperatures in the range of 750–1100 degrees Celcius. Varieties described as Akaraku (Red Raku), which derives its red hues from the iron content in the clay, and Kuroraku (Black Raku), which is finished with a black glaze, are widely known.