Soetsu Yanagi & Japan Folk Crafts Museum

The Japan Folk Crafts Museum (http://www.mingeikan.or.jp/ ) was established  in 1936 by Yanagi Soetsu (also known as Yanagi Muneyoshi, 柳宗悦,  March 21, 1889 - May 3, 1961), a Japanese philosopher and the initiator of the Folk Craft Movement in Japan in the late 1920s and 1930s. 

Yanagi's classic book The Unknown Craftsman has drawn world attention since its English version (translated by Bernard Leach) was first released in 1972. In this book, Yanagi expatiated clearly the philosophy of the Japanese Folk Craft Movement  and discovered beauty in everyday ordinary and utilitarian objects, including pottery, lacquer, textile and woodwork, by nameless and unknown craftsmen. According to Yanagi, these daily utilitarian objects made by common people are 'beyond beauty and ugliness'.

Calligraphy by Yanagi-beyond beauty and ugliness

The criteria of folk arts&crafts are as follows:

(i) made by common crafts people; (ii) produced by hand in quantity; (iii) inexpensive; (iv) used by general public; (v) functional in daily life; and (vi)characteristic of the region where it is produced.

In 1916, Yanagi visited Korea for the first time out of his strong interest in Korean crafts. The trip resulted in the foundation of the Korean Folk Crafts Museum in 1924. Meanwhile, the Japanese word Mingei, or folk crafts, was coined by Yanagi in 1926 together with potters Hanada Shoji (1894-1978) and Kawai Kanjiro (1890-1966). The Folk Crafts Movement was formally declared by Yanagi in 1926,  an age when Japanese traditional culture was overwhelmed by western culture, and many daily utilitarian objects used by common people in Edo and Meji period were gradually disappearing with Japan's rapid industrialization and urbanization. Faced with strong negative impacts of western culture on Japanese traditional culture at that time, Yanagi,  like many other great thinkers, began to rethink the Japan's development model, i.e. blindly worshiping and fully embracing western culture, and tried to rediscover the glamour and value of Japanese folk arts&crafts culture. 

In 1936, Yanagi Soetsu founded the Japan Folk Crafts Museum and acted as its first director. The Museum was designed and most of its 17,000 pieces selected by Yanagi himself. Due to his early fascination with Korean art which sparked his strong interest in oriental folk arts&crafts, Yanagi provided a room exclusively for Korean folk arts&crafts mainly in Korean Yi Dynasty (1392~1910 AD) in order to pay tribute to them. 

Chris and I at the museum gate