1936–
male
kyo pottery
living national treasure
An aspiring potter, Hara Kiyoshi became an apprentice of Ishiguro Munemaro in 1954, later studying under Munemaro’s top apprentice Shimizu Uichi.
He opened his own kiln in Setagaya, Tokyo in 1965, after previously participating in the Japan Traditional Kogei Exhibition for the first time in 1958 and becoing a regular member of the Japan Kogei Association in 1961.
After opening his own kiln, he was conferred the Chairman’s Award at the Japan Traditional Kogei Exhibition in 1969, the Japan Ceramic Society Award in 1976, and the Tokyo Governor’s Award at the Japan Traditional Kogei Exhibition in 1997.
He was also very active arranging solo exhibitions at Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi and elsewhere as well as producing a broad range of works for exhibitions at home and abroad that he was invited to.
From the beginning, Kiyoshi experimented with iron glazes, underglazing plants, birds, and animals in iron on dark-brown glaze to create elegant and strikingly unique works. From the 1980s, he began making blue-glazed pieces characterized by their lucid blue color. He was a special invitee to the Japan Traditional Kogei Exhibition in 2001 and was recognized as a Holder of National Important Intangible Cultural Heritage (Living National Treasure) in 2005 for his glazed porcelain.
