Category: Mingei

Nitta Yoshiko’s Trunk Show at the Mingei International Museum Shop in Balboa Park, San Diego. November 3rd and 4th, 2017

November 1, 2017Glass Mingei Nitta Yoshiko

Blown and etched glasswork by Nitta Yoshiko in our shop ->

I am really excited to be able to show over 100 masterful pieces of work by Japanese glass artist Nitta Yoshiko at the Mingei International Museum Shop in San Diego this weekend.

Blown glass bowls by Japanese artist Nitta Yoshiko

I have known Yoshiko for over 5 years now, and I still remember vividly when I first saw her glassware at a craft fair in Osaka in 2012. I had never seen blown glass as thin and comfortable to hold as those made by Yoshiko, and I excitedly asked if she was willing to work with me to introduce her work in the United States. I was so happy when she agreed!

Japanese Glass Artist Nitta Yoshiko (third from left) at a craft fair in Japan in 2012

Almost every day, I use the glasses that I first bought from her back in 2012. Yoshiko’s works are not just beautiful and simple, but also very sturdy. Yoshiko makes her work exclusively with clear glass that demands the highest skill from the glass blower because any unevenness in the thickness can be obvious at first glance.

Glass blowing tools used by Nitta Yoshiko

I asked Yoshiko why she chose to work with clear glass despite these technical difficulties and she gave me this explanation: “The biggest reason I work with clear glass is because it is my favorite type of glass. In my opinion, the most appealing aspect of glass is its ability to let the light through, and its shadow to fall onto the surface that it is placed on. These effects are maximized in clear glass. I also love the appearance of clear glass.”

Nitta Yoshiko chose to work with clear glass because she thinks that the most appealing aspect of glass is its ability to let the light through, and its shadow to fall onto the surface that it is placed on.

Orange supreme in Nitta Yoshiko’s footed bowl. Yoshiko works with clear glass because it shows the true colors of the objects that it is holding.

She continued: “I also want my work to be the vessel that shows the true colors of the objects that it is holding. Food, flowers, drinks all have beautiful natural colors. I think people want to enjoy the subtle colors of their sake, for example.”

The maker’s regard for the end user can be felt in every piece that is made by Nitta Yoshiko.

Yoshiko was planning to be in San Diego for this show but a family emergency made that trip impossible unfortunately. Nonetheless, she is here in spirit, and her regard for you, the end user, can be felt in every piece that she made and sent. I hope that you will be able join me in celebrating her beautiful work at the most fantastic and appropriate venue that is the Mingei International Museum Shop in San Diego.

Beyond the Object: Visiting Kawai Kanjiro’s House in Kyoto

December 30, 2014Ceramics Kyoto Mingei Travels

If you visit the ancient city of Kyoto, let your schedule include a stop at Kawai Kanjiro’s House, which is hidden away on a narrow backstreet in Gojo-zaka. You will be rewarded with a window into the life of an accomplished potter, who was also a poet, writer, architect, and sculptor.

Kawai Kanjiro’s House in the narrow backstreets of Gojyo-zaka in Kyoto. Apart from the wooden sign written by Munakata Shiko and carved by Kuroda Tatsuaki, it looks like an ordinary house from the outside.

Kawai Kanjiro is best known as one of the leading figures of the Mingei movement, but his impact reaches far beyond. A conversation about his life’s work can easily turn into a discussion about the spirit and soul of what it means to be a maker and artist. His house, which is now restored as a museum, is the ultimate expression of his perspective on a life that he loved and embraced to the full.

Photo of Kawai Kanjiro on the left and his handwritten verse “one buys things, one buys oneself”

Kawai (1890-1966) was born in Shimane prefecture to a family of carpenters. He aspired to be a potter and attended the Ceramic Industry Department at Tokyo Higher Technical School (today known as Tokyo Institute of Technology). Not long after his graduation, Kawai had a successful solo exhibition at a major department store in Tokyo in 1921 that cemented his success as a potter. He was especially famed for his mastery of various glazes and ancient Chinese and Korean techniques.

But as his popularity grew, Kawai became increasingly dissatisfied with his work. As a result, he joined the Mingei movement and after spending three years in seclusion, drastically changed his style and started to make functional pottery for everyday use. His style and creativity continued to develop in his later years when he produced many different forms of ceramics, woodcarvings, and literature.

One of the sitting rooms at Kawai Kanjiro’s house. Many items in his house were designed and created by Kawai.
(Photo by Tomoko Matsubayashi)

In recognition of the profound impact that Kawai had on Japanese cultural life, the Japanese government sought to bestow on him the highly prestigious distinction as an Intangible Cultural Property of Japan –more popularly known as a Living National Treasure- and the Order of Culture Medal. But Kawai was not interested with such awards and turned them down. He also declined to be nominated to join the Japan Art Academy, which is the country’s most prestigious artistic organization.

Multi-chambered climbing kiln behind Kawai Kanjiro’s house that he inherited from Kiyomizu Rokubei V
(Photo by Tomoko Matsubayashi)

While Kawai does not appear to have given any public explanation as to why he politely but firmly refused these accolades, I wonder if this was because he wanted to remain as a maker empowered by his work, rather than as an artist qualified by his fame. We often lose our ability to see when fame gets in the way. For Kawai, who said that “to see my new self, so I work”, he found joy in continuing to self-explore through the things that he could bring to life. This is obvious from the sheer volume of output that he accomplished during his lifetime.

Kawai also paid particular attention to how he lived his daily life, because he believed that “lifestyle is work, work is lifestyle”. In 1937, he designed his own house that was modeled after classic Japanese rural cottages from the Hida-Takayama area, and he called upon his own family of carpenters from Shimane to build it.

The hearth at Kawai Kanjiro’s house that welcomes guests at the entrance.
(Photo by Tomoko Matsubayashi)

This house was Kawai’s residence, pottery studio and gallery with a climbing kiln in the back. But more importantly, it was a place that he filled with his favorite objects. Kawai said that, “one buys things, one buys oneself.” What we choose to acquire and surround ourselves with is a reflection of who we are. It is a simple but powerful observation that can be easily lost in today’s materialistic world. To this day, visitors are reminded of the pleasures of the humble and often forgotten everyday items that Kawai carefully selected for his home.

To me, the most moving aspect of visiting Kawai’s home was the warm, welcoming atmosphere of the space. Beyond the objects, the place was filled with friendliness that stemmed from his generosity of spirit and open mind.

A wood carving of a dog that functions as an armrest made by Kawai from recycled wood when the house was built in 1937. It is hollow on the inside and Kawai stored his favorite dried persimmons and candy inside and kept it at his side through his life.

Sagi Tamae, the granddaughter of Kawai, wrote about an episode in Kawai’s life in the commemorative issue of Honoho Geijutsu magazine in 2010 that offers an insight into who he was as a person. The story was about what happened when one of Kawai’s housekeepers broke his drying pots when she was trying to take in laundry that was on the pole in the garden of the house.

The round stone in Kawai’s garden was a collective gift from his friends in Shimane. They wanted to give him a stone lantern for his newly built house but Kawai asked for a round stone instead. Kawai loved to move the stone around the garden and enjoy it in different places.
(Photo by Tomoko Matsubayashi)

Tamae wrote that Kawai “ran out from his studio and quickly picked up the broken pieces in his apron and told the housekeeper, “don’t worry, don’t worry, just go inside. I can always make more.” Kanjiro was the type of person who worried more about the feelings of the housekeeper than the pots. He chose to become a potter and participate in the Mingei movement as he obviously loved ‘things’ but ultimately he was not fixated about any of them. To Kanjiro, what cannot be seen was far more important then what was visible.”

Two chairs and a table at Kawai Kanjiro’s House. The chairs were designed by Kawai and the table is a flipped mortar for pounding rice mochi that was a gift from Kawakatsu Kenichi, who was a lifelong close friend and fan of Kawai. Kawakatsu secretly entered Kawai’s ceramic pieces for the 1937 exposition in Paris and 1957 triennale in Milan and they won the grand prizes in both events. Over 400 pieces of Kawai’s work collected by Kawakatsu were donated to The National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto.
(Photo by Tomoko Matsubayashi)

A visit to Kawai’s house is unlike a trip to a typical museum where ‘things’ are lined up to be admired. Kawai’s abode is a place to be inspired by the delightful life of an artist who never stopped exploring his inner self.

Through his home that he left behind, Kawai continues to share ideas that may enrich our own lives and help us to discover ourselves. All we need is a childlike curiosity and an open mind to be inspired. Kawai affectionately called this amazing human ability “to be surprised by the act of being surprised” and acknowledged its utmost importance throughout his long and productive life.

—>> Visit photographer Tomoko Matsubayashi’s website to see more photos of Kawai Kanjiro’s house in Kyoto.

In Pursuit of Beauty: The Meaning of Mingei and Yanagi Muneyoshi Through a Conversation with Matsui Takeshi of Tokyo University

July 9, 2013Mingei Research

This blog post was originally written for Studio KotoKoto

On a sunny summer morning, Studio Kotokoto (Ai in person and Kathryn in spirit) ventured to the leafy campus of Tokyo University to have a conversation about Mingei with one of Japan’s leading experts on the subject, Prof. Matsui Takeshi of Todai’s Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia.

The famous Akamon (red gate) and green campus of Tokyo University

Since Yanagi Muneyoshi (also known as Yanagi Soetsu) founded the Mingei movement almost 90 years ago, there has been fierce debate about what Mingei means and whether it is still relevant today.

We at Studio Kotokoto firmly believe that the spirit of Mingei is important and relevant to our lives today, which is why we have the word in our tagline. Mingei theory touches on the enriching and integral nature of craft to our lives, so it is as much about the users as it is about the makers. It is about recognizing the social and spiritual significance of bringing practical beauty into our homes.

Prof. Matsui has spent over 25 years studying the thinking and writings of Yanagi and the philosophy of Mingei. He wrote an excellent book on the subject entitled “Yanagi Muneyoshi and Mingei Today” (“Yanagi Muneyoshi to Mingei no Genzai” Tokyo; Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 2005).

On the left is the original 1972 copy of “The Unknown Craftsman” bound in mulberry bark paper. On the right is “Yanagi Muneyoshi and Mingei Today” by Prof. Matsui Takeshi, published in 2005.

Yanagi was a Japanese philosopher and aesthetician who lived in Japan from 1889 to 1961. With a circle of friends that included famous potters such as Hamada Shoji and Bernard Leach, Yanagi called on people to turn their eyes to the beauty of handmade utilitarian objects born out of the tradition of craftsmanship in cultures from around the world. For English speakers, a selection of Yanagi’s writings was translated in a book titled “The Unknown Craftsman” (Tokyo; Kodansha International Ltd.. 1972).

The appreciation of beauty in traditional crafts that are practical in use is the very core of Mingei aesthetics. Yanagi raised some very basic questions to get to the heart of the matter. What is beauty? Should art for enjoyment and craft for practical use be considered to have a different worth? Are craft inferior in value to art because it is spoilt by their practical nature?

Yanagi put forward a long list of criteria that he believed were the conditions for a beautiful object to be born. Some of the most discussed points include:

It possesses beauty that is identified with use.
It is made by hand.
It is simple, natural and healthy.
It is made by a community of uneducated anonymous craftsmen and is unsigned.
It is made in large numbers and is inexpensive.
It is representative of the tradition of its region.

To critics, these criteria are from another era and are too preservationist, unobtainable, and irrelevant in today’s world. Degawa Naoki highlights many of the contradictions and problems of Yanagi’s theory in his book “Mingei -The Collapse of Theory and The Birth of Style” (“Mingei-Riron no Houkai to Yoshiki no Tanjyo” Tokyo; Shinchosha, 1998) .

An embroidered baby carrier by the Naxi, an ethnic minority in China’s Yunnan province. The mother or the maternal family makes this baby carrier with auspicious patterns that offer good wishes to the child. In appreciating the beauty of craft, Yanagi said that the word “use” should be interpreted to fulfill utility and also the mind.

So is Mingei nothing more than an outdated myth? If it is passé, should we disregard it and move on? Prof. Matsui’s perspective is that it is important to understand the circumstances in which Yanagi came up with his criteria. “Yanagi had an acute eye for beauty, and when he found a beautiful object, he was intrigued to find out how it was born. He absorbed himself into researching the background of the object to find out how that beautiful object came to life,” Prof. Matsui explained.

“Yanagi set those criteria because he found that beautiful objects seemed to be born under those conditions”, Prof. Matsui continued. “However, that is not to say that the object becomes beautiful just because it fulfills those conditions.” In other words, it is a one-way process that starts by looking at the material aspect of an item. The criteria is Yanagi’s attempt to theoretically explain how its beauty came about.

Professor Matsui Takeshi of Tokyo University is one of Japan’s most eminent Mingei experts

This also explains how Mingei as a retail term has developed a negative connotation in Japan. Mingei is often used to refer to the cheap and unsophisticated handmade objects made in large numbers that are found in souvenir shops in rural areas.

Prof. Matsui offered that the way to approach Mingei “is to first simply see beauty in objects and to dig deeper into the thoughts for the reasons of its beauty. That means for the users to see and the makers to create without the binds and restrictions set by our knowledge or experience.” It is the continuous process in which the users select beautiful objects, and the makers strive to improve their work. While many get caught up in the list of criteria for Mingei offered by Yanagi, his contributions are in the research and many inspiring thoughts found in the discussions and explanations of how he reached his conclusions.

Chinese baby carrier basket spotted in Kunming, Yunnan Province, in 2000. Lightweight and cool, these baskets are comfortable for the mother and the baby. These baskets are rarely seen in China now. Yanagi was apprehensive of the loss of beautiful traditional objects that were overlooked and unappreciated by the general public.

While Yanagi does not completely reject industrialization, his belief was that the beauty of craft reached its zenith in the pre-industrial era when people depended on handmade objects in their daily lives. Consequently, studying objects from the past helps in understanding the beauty that Yanagi discussed. “There are many things to be learned by looking at objects made by our predecessors. The users who study them develop better eyes and the makers who study them make better objects.” Prof. Matsui said.

An old, salt-glazed stoneware jug with cobalt embellishment made in New England by an unknown craftsman. Studying objects from the past will train our eyes to recognize the simple and pure beauty that Yanagi attempted to define.

In summing up Yanagi, Prof. Matsui said that “what Yanagi dedicated his life to considering, writing, and carrying out is essential to us now, as a wellspring of resources for creative thinking and constructive criticism towards our present way of life”. This is especially true for us at Studio Kotokoto. By studying Mingei, we have become better thinkers about reconsidering beauty in the context of our lives.

Meeting Prof. Matsui has invigorated our wish to continue the study of practical but beautiful objects, visiting their makers, and exploring the backgrounds of crafts and to continue to evolve our thinking. As the wise professor pointed out, the ultimate goal for students of Mingei is in the practice of seeing “to develop a better eye for beauty”, and this requires a lifelong journey of learning.