BLOG

Shoji Hamada, a potter who made Mashiko famous nationwide (2)
    2018/1/18
  • BLOG
  • 0 Shares
  • 964 Views

スクリーンショット 2018-01-16 18.04.44

Shoji Hamada studied in London and worried about his family and returned to Japan in 1924, after a big earthquake hit Kanto region including Tokyo in the previous year. He loved country life in England and learned a lot from it, which finally made him decide to settle down in Mashiko, a small pottery town 100 km northeast of Tokyo, after spending several winters in Okinawa and the rest of the years in Mashiko.

In 1930, he started to build his own house and pottery in Mashiko by relocating classical Japanese thatched-roofed houses, which you can still visit as a part of Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art and Shoji Hamada Memorial Mashiko Sankokan Museum. In Mashiko, he produced a lot of great works, which are not only highly appreciated by collectors and at museums worldwide but also had significant influence on a lot of potters in the world.

He was also an enthusiastic supporter of Mingei fork-art movement. He became the second director of the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum when Yanagi died in 1961, and had been working hard until a month prior to his death.

(Chiaki)

Became interested in folk art? koi Travel offers you unique cultural experiences!


Related Articles

Folk art movement in Japan by Sosetsu Yanagi and his friends, Kanjiro Kawai and Shoji Hamada

Bizen ware represents the beauty of incompleteness, caused by nature

A story of an American man who became an apprentice of a Japanese pottery master (1)

The sword smith seeking for an ultimate sword

Related Activities

PREVIOUS POSTS | Shoji Hamada, a potter who made Mashiko famous nationwide (1)

NEXT POSTS | Rediscover of Mashiko color, by Shoji Hamada