In the late Muromachi period (roughly the 1530s to 1570s), Zengoro was a pottery craftsman in Nishinokyo, Nara, who made vessels and braziers for Kasuga Taisha Shrine. His family was Nishimura. The history of the Zengoro family began when Takeno Jōō, a master of the tea ceremony and teacher of Sen no Rikyu, commissioned Zengoro to create a new tool called a "doburo" for boiling water for the tea ceremony. The doburo was crafted using pottery techniques and an ingenious design. Over the years, as the center of tea ceremony culture shifted from Nara to Sakai, Osaka, and then to Kyoto, Zengoro's residence and production base moved, working alongside the tea masters there.

Starting with the founder, Zengoro, our family has made "doburo" its profession,
and has continued for generations. However, during the time of the 10th head,
Zengoro (Ryozen), the family faced financial difficulties and
the loss of all family possessions in the great Tenmei fire (1788)
that burned down the city of Kyoto. This put the family
at risk of collapse.

As a result, the family was able to survive by producing
not only "doburo" but also a variety of other tea ceramics.
To achieve this, the family received support from many
people, including the Sen, the Hisada tea family, the Mitsui
merchant family, and the Raku tea pottery family.

Tea Bowl with Aoi Imperial
Crest in Kinrande Overglaze Enamels on Red Ground
Hozen, 11th Zengoro

Furthermore, when Kyukosai, the 10th head of the Omote-Sen-ke tea family, traveled to Kisyu (Wakayama prefecture) to serve the Kishu Tokugawa family (1827), a family related to the Tokugawa Shogun, Zengoro 11th (Hozen) accompanied him and worked at the family's private kiln, Kairakuen Oniwa-yaki. At that time, the lord of the Kishu domain, bestowed upon him the gold seal of “Kahin-Shiryu" and the silver seal of “Eiraku,” and from then on he began using the "Eiraku" seal on his ceramic works other than “dobro". After the Meiji period (1868- ), he also changed his family name from Nishimura to Eiraku.