CERAMICS OF SHIMAOKA TATSUZO
Living National Treasure of Japan, A Retrospective
Companion to the exhibition CERAMICS OF SHIMAOKA TATSUZO: A Retrospective of a Living National Treasure of Japan. 150 pages - 115 color illustrations. Three black and white photographs. Commentaries by Tatsuzo Shimaoka, Dr. Lennox Tierney and Martha Longenecker. Foreword by Sori Yanagi. Price $45.00
Excerpt from the publication.
FOREWORD
Sori Yanagi President, Nihon Mingeikan, Tokyo
I would like to thank Martha Longenecker, Founder and Director of Mingei International Museum and longtime friend of Tatsuzo Shimaoka, for this marvelous opportunity of introducing Shimaoka's works to the people of the United States. Shimaoka was awarded the title of Ningen Kokuho (Living National Treasure of Japan) in 1996. As one of the most respected potters in Japan, his works have been highly acclaimed at museums and galleries worldwide.
When Shimaoka was a teenager, wondering what to do when he grew up, he visited the Nihon Mingeikan (Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo) in 1938. There he discovered the beauty of Mingei advocated by my father, Soetsu Yanagi (1889-1961). Shimaoka had found what he wanted to become. Shimaoka met Yanagi, Founder of the museum, and was able to meet the most passionate advocates of Yanagi's Mingei Movement: Shoji Hamada, Kanjiro Kawai and Bernard Leach.
Shimaoka began making pottery in 1939 as a student at the Tokyo Institute of Technology's Department of Ceramics. During Shimaoka's freshman year, he visited Hamada in Mashiko and was granted apprenticeship upon graduation. Shimaoka joined Hamada's workshop from 1946-49. Four years later, he built his own, independent kiln adjacent to his teacher's in Mashiko.
Leonardo da Vinci once said that a true teacher is one that can instruct pupils to surpass the teacher. Hamada, the master potter and educator, always emphasized to his students the importance of creating their own personal styles. Shimaoka later became famous for his original technique of Jomon Zogan (rope-impressed inlay) and is now the second Mashiko potter, after Hamada, to be designated a Living National Treasure.
