Unknown Craftsman The: A Japanese Insight Into Beauty

About Bernard LeachSoetsu Yanagi

S?ETSU YANAGI was born in Tokyo in 1889 and graduated from the literature department of the Tokyo Imperial University in 1913 majoring in psychology. Proficient in English and with a deep feeling for art while still a student Mr. Yanagi became associated with the Shirakaba (Silver Birch) literary group to which he was partly responsible for interpreting Western art to Japan.In 1921 he completed the organization of a Korean folkcraft museum in Seoul and in 1936 the present Japan Folkcraft Museum in Tokyo was completed through his efforts.Mr. Yanagi traveled widely in the Orient Europe and America. In 1929 he lectured at Harvard University for one year. In Japan sometimes in the company of the potters Kanjir? Kawai Sh?ji Hamada and Bernard Leach he sought out anonymous craftsman of all kinds throughout the country and encouraged their work. He also wrote prolifically and profoundly on all aspects of aesthetics finding his inspiration in Japanese and Oriental folkcraft and folk culture. His personal collection of folkcrafts is the nucleus of the Japan Folkcraft Museum collection. Mr. Yanagi died in Tokyo in 1961.The Adaptor BERNARD LEACH today is known as one of the world's greatest potters. His numerous books are familiar to everyone interested in modem crafts. Mr. Leach first came to Japan at the age of 22 in 1909 met the Shirakaba group and soon became an intimate friend of S?etsu Yanagi. It is difficult to say which of the two men influenced the other the more. In Mr. Yanagi's own words Leach came to Japan... full of dreams and wonder.... It is doubtful if any other visitor from the West ever shared our spiritual life so completely. This volume is Mr. Leach's tribute to his friend of fifty years standing.