Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) was one of the most influential potters of the 20th century. Born in Tokyo, Japan, Hamada graduated from Tokyo Technical College with training in pottery, and enrolled at Kyoto Ceramics Research in 1916. During the years from 1919 to 1923, he travelled extensively to learn about diverse ceramic and folk craft traditions, and built a climbing kiln in England at St. Ives, with Bernard Leach (1887–1979). After three formative years working with Leach at his pottery workshop in Cornwall, Hamada returned to Japan to establish his own studio in the town of Mashiko. His work was influenced by a wide variety of folk ceramics including English medieval pottery, Okinawan stoneware, and Korean pottery. Hamada was an important member of the mingei folk-art movement—the return to the essentials of art—which rely on local materials and inspiration flowing from within the potter to his hands. Along with the return to art essentials is the return to lifestyle essentials—producing those things you need and living simply with the earth. As an embodiment of this philosophy, his simple designs convey an elegant beauty, focused on utility as much as aesthetic.

In 1955, the Japanese Minister of Culture declared Shoji Hamada a “Living National Treasure.” Thereafter, he was appointed Director of the Japan Folk Art Museum and awarded the Okinawa Times Award, and Order of Culture from the Emperor. In 1973, Hamada received an honorary Doctor of Art degree from the Royal College of Art in London, England. Shoji Hamada died in 1978, four years after the completion of the Mashiko Sankokan Museum, which was built in his home. Hamada’s influence on potters around the world is incalculable, and the village of Mashiko has become synonymous with Japanese folk ceramics. In 1977, he opened his own museum at his home, Mashiko Sankokan Museum. Shoji’s works are now in the collections of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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