1906-1994
male
bizen pottery
living national treasure
After graduating from elementary school, he began pottery in 1921 as a Bizen-ware pottery apprentice, then in 1933 he started his own independent kiln. In 1938 he became a student of Kusube Yaichi and trained in modeling and handling of the potter’s wheel.
In 1939 he won the Excellence Award at the Art Crafts Exhibition of Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu Regions, and in 1948 he was certified as a preserver of his characteristic technique which was based on the potter’s wheel technique he learned from Yaichi, and had an added feeling of speed and sharpness.
In 1954 he was recognized as a holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property from Okayama Prefecture and has also been selected as a member of the Japan Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition every year since 1955. He was appointed as a regular member in 1959 and won the Grand Prix of the Brussels Expo in the same year.
In addition, he won multiple prizes such as the Okayama Prefectural Cultural Prize in 1972, Sanyo Newspaper Cultural Award and the Miki Memorial Award in 1975, Bizen City Achievement Award and the Purple Ribbon Medal in 1976, Mainichi Art Award in 1977, the Dark‐blue Ribbon Medal in 1981, the Order of the Sacred Treasure (4th class) in 1982. After his history of prizes awarded, in 1987 he was certified as a living national treasure for Bizen-ware, third in line after Kaneshige Toyo and Fujiwara Kei.
As mentioned above, with regard to his potter’s wheel technique, he has a skill that can be said to be among the best of the generations of Bizen-ware artists. In his expertise in antique ceramics as well, he has contributed pieces overflowing with the elegance and deeply noble quality of traditional unglazed ceramics, especially tea caddies, tea bowls, mizuzashi (cold water container), etc.
