濱田庄司

Shoji Hamada

1894–1978 · Mashiko, Tochigi

Mashiko potter central to the mingei folk-craft movement; among Japan's first Living National Treasures in 1955.

Born in Kawasaki in 1894, Hamada Shoji studied ceramics at the Tokyo Higher Technical School under Itaya Hazan, then researched glazes at the Kyoto City Ceramics Testing Institute. In 1920 he travelled to England with Bernard Leach and worked at St Ives until 1923. After returning to Japan he settled in Mashiko, Tochigi, where he worked for the rest of his life with local materials. A leading figure of the mingei folk-craft movement with Yanagi Muneyoshi, he succeeded Yanagi as director of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in 1961. He was designated a Living National Treasure in 1955 and received the Order of Culture in 1968.