Vase

Designated a Living National Treasure in 1955 for his folk art style ceramics, Hamada was enormously influential in Japan as well as in the West. Along with Yanagi So_etsu (1889-1961) and Kawai Kanjiro_ (1890-1966), he founded the Japan Folk Art Association and provided the inspiration for Japan's folk art movement. He trained in the decorative porcelain tradition under Itaya Hazan and Tomimoto Kenkichi, but after working with the British potter Bernard Leach in the early 1920s, he became interested in utilitarian folk ceramics. This interest took him to Korea and Okinawa. He ultimately developed a sturdy style characterized by rapidly applied glazes and painted motifs that are remarkably spontaneous and self-assured.