Hamada Shōji

Hamada Shōji attained unsurpassed recognition at home and abroad for his folk art style ceramics. Inspired by Okinawan and Korean ceramics in particular, Hamada became an important figure in the Japanese folk arts movement in the 1960s. He was a founding member of the Japan Folk Art Association with Bernard Leach, Kawai Kanjirō, and Yanagi Soetsu.

After 1923, he moved to Mashiko where he rebuilt farmhouses and established his large workshop. Throughout his life, Hamada demonstrated an excellent glazing technique, using such trademark glazes as temmoku iron glaze, nuka rice-husk ash glaze, and kaki persimmon glaze. Through his frequent visits and demonstrations abroad, Hamada influenced many European and American potters in later generations as well as those of his own.

1894 Born in Tokyo
1912 Saw etchings and pottery by Bernard Leach in Ginza, Tokyo
1913 Studied at the Tokyo Technical College with Itaya Hazan (1872-1963)
Became friends with Kawai Kanjiro (1890-1966) and visits in Kyoto (1915)
1914 Became interested in Mashiko pottery after seeing a teapot at Hazan's home
1916 Graduated from Tokyo Technical College and enrolled at Kyoto Ceramics
Laboratory, visits with Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963)
Began 10,000 glaze experiments with Kawai
1917 Visited Okinawa to study kiln construction
1919 Met Bernard Leach (1887-1979) at his Tokyo exhibition, invited to him his studio
in Abiko where meets Yanagi Sōetsu (1889-1961)
Traveled to Korea and Manchuria, China with Kawai
1920 Visited Mashiko for the first time
Traveled to England with Leach, built a climbing kiln at St. Ives
1923 Traveled to France, Italy, Crete, and Egypt after his solo exhibition in London
1924 Moved to Mashiko. Married. Visited Okinawa with his wife, where he produced his
work at Tsuboya workshop
1929 Trip to England with Yanagi and Kawai
1930 Moved a farmhouse from a nearby village and rebuilt it as his own home in Mashiko
1931 Built three-chamber climbing kiln (later enlarged to five chamber)
1936-43 Traveled throughout Korea, North China, and Okinawa, and collected old and new
folk crafts
1952 Traveled as cultural envoy to France, Italy and Spain
Travelled with Yanagi and Leach throughout the U.S. giving demonstrations
1961 "Shoji Hamada Collected Works" published by Asahi Shimbun
1962 Appointed Director of the Japan Folk Art Museum
Travels to Paris to his work exhibited at the Louvre
1963 Attends Japanese-American Congress in Washington and lecture there, New York
and San Francisco. With second son Shinsaku held workshops and exhibitions
throughout the U.S. then visited Mexico and Spain
1964 Work exhibited at National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
1965 Invited to New Zealand and Australia with his son Atsuya travels to Egypt +Spain
1974 Completed museum for his own folk crafts collection in Mashiko and the Mashiko
Reference Collection of Hamada’s personal library
Published his autobiography Mujinson (Inexhaustible Possessions)

Awards:

1949 Tochigi Prefecture Culture Award
1953 Minister of Education Award for Art
1955 The first ceramic artist to be designated as a "Living National Treasure"
1967 Invited to the 50th anniversary of Michigan University; received honorary PHD
and exhibited work.
1968 Okinawa Times Award
Awarded the Medal of Honor, Purple Ribbon from Emperor
1969 Designated Honored Citizen of Mashiko
1973 Honorary PHD from King’s College, London
Becomes president of Japan Folk Crafts Museum after death of Yanagi
1977 Awarded the Cultural Prize from his birthplace, Kawasaki

Selected Western Public Collections:

Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Smithsonian, Washington, DC
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco CA
British Museum, London, England
The Brooklyn Museum, NY
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge England
Honolulu Art Museum, HI
Leach Pottery Museum, Cornwall, England
Los Angeles County Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
Musée nationale de Céramiques, Sèvres, France
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA
Museum of Modern Art, NY
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
Seattle Art Museum, WA
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
And MANY more throughout the world, especially throughout Japan