1558-1637
male
kyo pottery
Born in Kyoto, Honami Koetsu was a multi-disciplinary artist of many faces: a craftsman, calligrapher, painter, publisher, gardener, and maker of Noh masks. Known as the da Vinci of Japan, he had an excellent sense of design and left numerous masterpieces in all artistic genres. In the world of calligraphy, Honami is considered to be one of the three great calligraphers of the Kanei era alongside Nobutada Konoe and Shokado Shojo. He is the founder of the Koetsu style.
The Honami family was a high-ranking family of leading businessmen. The family had been well-known as sword connoisseurs since the time of Ashikaga Takauji, and their main patron was Maeda Toshiie of Kaga Province. Koetsu acquired a highly discerning eye for all manner of craftsmanship through exposure to the family business from an early age. He was versed in the techniques of many crafts, including woodworking, metalworking, lacquer, leather crafts, makie lacquer, dyeing and weaving, and mother of pearl (shell crafts), in addition to the production of the collars and sheathes for swords (production processes that are separate to swordsmithing). Later, Koetsu was freed from the family business when his father established a branch family. Based on the craft skills that he had acquired, he started to produce artworks that reflected the culture of waka poetry and calligraphy, which he had admired and studied.
