Chapter: Murata's Mingei

In the 1950’s the potters and scholars Yanagi Soetsu, Hamada Shoji and Kawai Kanjiro launched the Mingei movement where they were inspired by anonymous craftsmen. Yanagi validated Mashiko as a typical example of folk craft that embodies ‘innate Japaneseness’. Hamada Shoji established the town of Mashiko as a world-renowned pottery center, where he produced functional ceramics that showcase simplicity. Hamada was inspired particularly by the folk-craft techniques of ceramics from Okinawa and Korea. His significant influence on studio pottery is felt internationally, as seen in the works of Bernard Leach– a potter responsible for disseminating Japanese ceramic craft techniques in the West– and in the American folk-art movement.

Inspired by Hamada Shoji (1894-1978), who was a major figure in the Mingei folk-art movement, Murata Gen took up the study and practice of Mingei aesthetics in clay. One of the core precepts of the Mingei movement was anonymity versus individual creativity. From this emerged Murata’s work. He was a Mingei artist who subverted Yanagi’s criterion of beauty. While creating pottery as a Mingei artist, he also began signing his works, thus removing the notion of anonymity. This clashed with Yanagi’s ideological sensibilities. Yanagi, who subscribed to anonymous craft as the ultimate expression of Japanese national cultural identities and values, disagreed with Murata’s attempt to expand the definition of Japanese criterion of beauty and art.

This subversion led to Murata’s divergence from the Mingei group. His individualistic persona meant that his work did not draw focus on the Mingei stage. As a result, the sensitive, masterful works by this great artist and craftsman have been undervalued in the past.