Taisho-Showa Period Ko-Mashiko Ware Mado-e Dobin Window Picture Teapot Brooklyn Museum

is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally made in

Mashiko, Tochigi 270px, Kiln in Mashiko is a town located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 21,841 in 7914 households, and a population density of 240 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Mashiko is known for it ...

. Early pottery in Mashiko dates back to the Jōmon and

Yayoi period The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon p ...

s. ''Mashikoyaki'' is often thought of as simple and rustic in style, with brown and maybe a little red glaze, but modern pottery made in Mashiko today is found in many styles, on account of the creative freedom brought to Mashiko by

Shoji Hamada A is a door, window or room divider used in traditional Japanese architecture, consisting of translucent (or transparent) sheets on a lattice frame. Where light transmission is not needed, the similar but opaque ''fusuma'' is used (oshiire ...

. Modern ''Mashikoyaki'' dates only to 1853, when a potter discovered that local clay here was ideal for ceramics. The style was popularized in 1930 when Hamada, later designated as a Living National Treasure, set up a kiln in Mashiko. Hamada's student,

Tatsuzō Shimaoka was a Japanese ''mingei'' potter who studied under Shōji Hamada and later became the second Living National Treasure of Mashiko, Japan.London, David GExhibition Review: "Shimaoka Tasuzo,"Japanese Pottery Information Centre. September 2001. He w ...

, was also designated as a Living National Treasure and worked in Mashiko from 1953 until his death in 2007. Mashiko is a folkware kiln site that is unlike some of the other older kiln sites around Japan. The town is open to newcomers whether or not they are potters or of other professional backgrounds in arts, sciences and education. In Japan, craftsmen are usually born into their profession, but in Mashiko, anyone can become a potter. Following Shoji Hamada, people looking to return to a more traditional Japanese lifestyle settled in the area.Holmes, Ann Sommer. ''The Transition of the Artisan-Potter to the Artist Potter in Mashiko, a folkware kiln site in Japan.'' New York University Press, 1982. p. 12. Twice a year, coinciding with the Golden Week Holidays in the first week of May, and again for the first week of November, there is a pottery and crafts festival where potters and craftsmen from Mashiko and surrounding areas come to the town and set up stalls.

References

External links

Mashiko Pottery
Mashiko town tourist association Culture in Tochigi Prefecture Japanese pottery Mashiko, Tochigi {{japan-hist-stub

See also

References

External links