mingei

Takeuchi Seijiro 武内晴二郎

1921-1979maleBorn in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. His father was the first director of the Ohara Museum of Art in Kurashiki, and Seijiro grew up with art and art from an early age. He went on to study at the Faculty of Economics at Chuo University, but was mobilised as a student and enlisted in the army. He lost his left arm in China, but after being demobilised he began making pottery in his home town of Kurashiki and built his own kiln in 1960. Influenced by the leading figures of the craft movement, such as Yanagi Soetsu, Hamada Shoji and Kawai (more…)

Okishio Haruki 沖塩明樹

?-2002male1948 Studied under Ogawara Torakichi, who was described by Shoji Hamada as “the best wheel grinder in Japan”.1953 Trained at the Tamba Tachikake Kiln, during which time he also attended the kiln of Kawai Kanjiro.1957 Became head of the crafts department at Tobe-yuko company.1960 Involved in the founding of the Sakatsu Tsutsumi Kiln, working as an assistant.1964 Opened the Kurashiki Minato Kiln in Sakatsu, Kurashiki City.1983 Opened the Kanpu-haruki Kiln in Ushimado Town, Setouchi City, where Sue ware was produced in the 8th century.2001 Kurashiki Folk Art Museum publishes ‘The Work of Okishio Haruki’.2002 Passed away. (more…)

Funaki Michitada 舩木道忠

1900-1963malefujina potteryBorn 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 (more…)

Funaki Kenji 船木研児

1927-maleBorn in Shimane prefecture. Dropped out of the Shimane Normal School, followed his father, Michitada in creating ceramics, and participated in the Mingei Movement led by Yanagi Muneyoshi and Kawai Kanjiro. Later studied under Hamada Shoji and Bernard Leach. Kokuga Association Award. Japan Folk Crafts Museum Award. Japan Ceramics Society Award and more. Held solo exhibitions at various Mitsukoshi stores including Nihonbashi and Osaka. Various skills such as straw painting, finger painting, color glaze, and mud painting. (more…)

Funaki Kuniharu 舟木邦治

1948-malefujina potteryBorn in Matsue city, Shimane. Was attracted to the Minto Fujina-ware around the Sanin area, and became an apprentice to Funaki Kenji. Completed the Prefectural Industrial Examination. Became independent in 1975 at a county in the Shimane prefecture. Moved to Hokkaido in 1979 and spent two years there. Held solo exhibitions around the Kansai area. Works mainly with color glaze dyeing, slipware, and Inbande. deep plate 1,000 JPY 島根県鹿足郡津和野町直地67 (more…)

Suzuki Shigeo 鈴木繁男

1914-2003maleBorn in Shizuoka Prefecture. He was attracted by Yanagi Soetsu’s ”Kogei Biron”, theory of craft aesthetics, and was introduced to Soetsu in 1935. In 1937, he studied design under Serizawa Keisuke. In 1953, he became an assistant to Bernard Leach in Kutani, and in 1960, he built a kiln in Iwata, and was in charge of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum exhibition at the Osaka World’s Fair. Director of the museum. Focuses on overglaze red enamel decoration and blue and white. (more…)

Nakagawa Isaku 中川伊作

1899-2000maleGraduated from Kyoto City University of Arts in 1921.Since then, he has produced works as a printmaker, and in 1931, exhibited his works at the Japan Print Roadshow organized by the Ministry of Education, and displayed his works at such art museums as the Louvre, and those in Madrid, London, and New York.He is also known as a collector of Nanban-ware, and in 1938 he exhibited 100 collections at the Kyoto National Museum, which caught the eye of Yanagi Soetsu, who was promoting folk art, and led to Hamada Shoji and others to visit Okinawa. After returning from the United (more…)

Watanabe Sunao 渡辺すなお

1952-maleshiraiwa potteryGraduated from Iwate University Special Fine Arts Department. Made ceramics with the aim of reviving Shiraiwa-yaki, also known as Shiraiwa-Seto from the end of the Edo period to the beginning of the Meiji era. Inheriting the tradition of Tohoku folk pottery, sea cucumber glaze is mainly used for scraping and other decorations.In 1974, the late Shoji Hamada, who visited Akita to research Shiraiwa-yaki during the Edo period, said, “The sea squirt glaze that is characteristic of Shiraiwa-yaki is the best, although similar glazes are used in many places today,” and Sunao has continued his research for over 30 years (more…)

Morioka Hiroshi 森岡宏

1947-malebizen potteryBorn in Kanagawa Prefecture. Inspired by Mingei-undo, the folk art movement, of Yanagi Soetsu, Hamada Shoji, and others, he began training in Saga, Yamaguchi, Shikoku, and Kyoto in 1964, and later moved to Bizen, where he became independent in 1974. (more…)

Mizuno Hanjiro 6th 六代 水野半次郎

1926-?maleseto potteryBorn into the family business: the Hongyo Kiln of Seto. Graduated from the Faculty of Law at Chuo University. Studied under Yanagi Soetsu. Recipient of Japan Folk Crafts Museum Folk Crafts Exhibition Award, Honorable Mention, Japan Ceramics Exhibition Mainichi Newspaper Award. Noborigama climbing kiln was designated a Seto cultural property in 1977. Primarily focused on sansai, blue dyeing, iron glaze, kizeto. (more…)

Matsui Seizan 松井晴山

1932-malemoriyama potteryFrom Mori, Shizuoka. Studied under his father Seizan and carried on the family business. Worked on Moriyama ware with tiger stripe patterns and Kizeto ware. Felt the essence of craft are when Hamada Shoji and Yanagi Soetsu visited the kiln and reevaluated the old Shitoro ware. Selected for the Asahi Ceramic Exhibition, Prefectural Exhibition, and other exhibitions and won awards. (more…)

Tomimoto Kenkichi 富本憲吉

1886-1963maleliving national treasureAfter graduating from Tokyo School of Fine Arts’ Design Department, he gained the favor of Howard Leach, thus starting his aspirations to become a ceramic artist. The following year, he opened his own kiln in his hometown of Ando City.He began with a focus on hand-molden earthenware replicas and other earthenware, then proceeded to research Japanese antique kilns such as those of Shigaraki and Seto. Further, he traveled to Korea and included Joseon dynasty pottery molding in his works. In 1927, he moved his kiln to Soshigaya, Tokyo, and had his works featured the following year in 1928 (more…)

Kawai Kanjiro 河井寛次郎

1890-1966maleAfter graduating from Tokyo Higher Polytechnical School, Kawai worked and studied at the Kyoto Research Institute for Ceramics. In 1920, he built his own independent kiln in Gojozaka (inherited from Kiyomizu Rokubey V), and married Tsune Kawai (née Mikami Yasu) the same year.His first ceramics exhibition was held the following year at Tokyo’s Takashimaya Department Store. From the beginning, he studied ancient Chinese and Korean ceramics, and was highly praised for developing pieces with ever more unique molds, but he held doubts about his style, and temporarily ceased to make pottery. It was around this time he was introduced to (more…)

Kato Tokuro 加藤唐九郎

1896-1985malemino potteryKato Tokuro was born the eldest son of Seto potter Kano Sojiro, and as a child displayed a talent for painting in the Nanga style, for composing Chinese poetry, as well as for ceramics, which he practiced under his father. In 1914, he was granted partial rights to his father’s round kiln, marking the start of his own kiln construction and ceramics.In 1918, he married Kato Kinu and took the family name Kato.He devoted himself to surveying the old Seto kilns and researching traditional Seto techniques, allowing him to reproduce Shino and Oribe ware. In 1929, he founded the (more…)

Ikuta Kazutaka 生田和孝

1927-1982maletamba potterySought to be a potter in 1947 and received instruction from Kawai Takekazu from Fujihira kiln in Kyoto. Also apprenticed under Kawai Kanjiro in 1951 and studied folk ceramic crafts. Returned home temporarily in 1955 but moved to Konda, Hyogo the following year to study Tamba ware techniques under Ichino Toshio. Started a Tamba-style climbing kiln in 1959.Later established a style by adding folk craft arrangements to the base of Tamba ware. Stood out for use of Nuka-yu glaze and Ame-yu glaze with warm colors.Main awards received include the Minister of Education’s Award at the Japan Ceramic Exhibition for (more…)

Ono Shinya 尾野晋也

1940–2018malesodeshi potteryHe is the 4th generation to inherit the legacy of Matsue ware (Sodeshi ware) originally founded by Ono Tomoichi. His father, Ono Toshiro, who was the 3rd generation joined the folk art movement after being influenced by Yanagi Muneyoshi, Bernard Howell Leach, and Hamada Shoji, changing their style to focus on folk crafts and becoming a proponent of “Aesthetics in Daily Use Items” which combined utility with beauty. (more…)

Aragaki Eizaburo 新垣栄三郎

1921-1984maletsuboya potteryBorn to Aragaki Eitoku V of the pottery family who creates Ryukyu ware in Tsuboya, Naha, Okinawa, he was familiar with pottery from childhood and received guidance from Hamada Shoji and Kawai Kanjiro, who had come to observe the folk art movement in 1939.After graduating from Taichung Normal School in Taiwan in 1941, he worked in an elementary school in Shimane Prefecture. After the war, he worked in his hometown’s Tsuboya Elementary School from 1947 to 1954.Following this, he began to devote himself to pottery, and received high praise at a number of exhibitions, including the National Artists’ Association (more…)

Aragaki Isao 新垣勲

1944-2018maletsuboya pottery7th Generation Ryukyu Pottery, Tsuboya Ware, Potter.In his grandfather Arakai Eitoku’s time, Yanagi Muneyoshi and Hamada Shoji became friends when visiting Okinawa, and from then on began producing works that crossed folk art style design with Ryukyu ware.He received the Oki Exhibition Honorable Mention in 1964 and from 1966 through 1969, and the Oki Exhibition Award in 1970 and 1971, and he was nominated as a member of the Okinawa Exhibition Association in 1977. He won the Rookie of the Year Award from the Exhibition Ceramics Club of the National Artists’ Association in 1973, received the Minister of International (more…)

Hamada Shoji 濱田庄司

1894-1978malemashiko potteryliving national treasureHamada Shoji was a renowned craftsman and representative figure in modern Japanese pottery. Born in Tokyo in 1894, he resolved to become a potter while still a student at Furitsuicchu (the Tokyo First Prefectural Jr. High School, Hibiya high school at present). After studying ceramics at the Tokyo Higher Technical School (present-day Tokyo Institute of Technology), Hamada joined the Kyoto Municipal Ceramic Laboratory, where he would meet his lifelong friend, Kawai Kanjiro. As Hamada later summarized the narrative arc of his career, “I found the path in Kyoto, began my journey in England, studied in Okinawa, and (more…)

Bernard Leach

1887-1979maleAfter losing his mother as a baby, Leach spent his early childhood in Kyoto raised by his father, a Japanese resident.He later returned to England, but came back to Japan in 1909 aged 21. Connecting with writers and artists from the Shirakaba Group, he was especially friendly with Yanagi Soetsu, and became captivated by ceramics. He began studying ceramics under Ogata Kenzan the 6th, producing Raku ware and so on.He endeavored in pottery techniques at Hamada Shoji’s Mashiko kiln base, became acquainted with Kawai Kanjiro and participated with him in Yanagi’s mingei movement. In 1920 he returned to England accompanied (more…)