Raku is at once a technique of making pottery and a process of being a person. As a technique, it is relatively modern and belongs to a late stage of Buddhism. As a process of life, it derives its significance from the meaning of the ideogram (quiet, happiness, serenity, enjoyment, peace, etc.) which stands in sharp contradiction to the often hectic manner in which the Raku pots comes into being, from firing to reduction. The result is the peculiar quality of Raku: “As (it) grew out of the Zen religion we must keep in mind that the freedom, the liveliness, the surprise, the quality of freshness and vitality in Zen almost always grew out of a very strong discipline.” (Paul Soldner)