1900-1963
male
fujina pottery
Born in Fujina (now Tamayu Town), Shimane Prefecture. Graduated from the Western-style painting department of Tokyo Fine Arts School.
Holds the Shimane Prefecture Intangible Cultural Property Shibuna-yaki Technique (1962)
BiographyBorn into a family that runs the Funaki Heibei Kiln, a Fujina ware kiln. After studying Western-style painting at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, he returned home to take over the family business and became a potter. In the early Showa period (1926-1989), he participated in Yanagi Soetsu’s folk art movement, and was inspired by Hamada Shoji and Bernard Leach, and devoted himself to his work. He aspired to revive Fujina pottery, which was in decline, and produced a number of works that incorporated the techniques of medieval English pottery into his own traditional techniques, which were well received. He also contributed to the development of crafts in Shimane Prefecture by acting as a bridge between Shimane and the central art world. In 1935, he became a member of the Kokuga-kai and in 1962 he was certified as a holder of Fujina-yaki techniques, an intangible cultural asset of the prefecture.
