Mingei

Thrown, combed tea bowl by Shōji Hamada

The concept of mingei (民芸), variously translated into English as "folk craft", "folk art" or "popular art", was developed from the mid-1920s in Japan by a philosopher and aesthete, Yanagi Sōetsu (1889–1961), together with a group of craftsmen, including the potters Hamada Shōji (1894–1978) and Kawai Kanjirō (1890–1966). As such, it was a conscious attempt to distinguish ordinary crafts and functional utensils (pottery, lacquerware, textiles, and so on) from "higher" forms of art – at the time much admired by people during a period when Japan was going through rapid westernisation, industrialisation, and urban growth. In some ways, therefore, mingei may be seen as a reaction to Japan's rapid modernisation processes.[1][2]

  1. ^ Yanagi Sōetsu (1889-1961). Leiden: Textile Research Centre. https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/people-and-functions/authors-scholars-and-activists/yanagi-soetsu-1889-1961
  2. ^ Moeran, Brian. Lost Innocence: Folk Craft Potters of Onta, Japan. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1984.