A potter in Japan, 1952-1954 / by Bernard Leach
1960, 1st edition. London : Faber and Faber. Very good copy in the original gilt-blocked cloth. Slight suggestion only of dust-dulling to the spine bands and panel edges. Some foxing to end-paper. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Item #474256
Physical description: 246 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm. Contents: Preface -- 1. Prelude, east and west -- The international conference of weavers and potters at Dartington, 1952 -- Unity of craftsmen in a diverse world -- Yangi and Hamada present the ideals of the Japanese craft movement -- 'The Kingdom of Beauty' -- The deacy of handcrafts following the impact of industrialism -- The emergence of the artist craftsman -- Cleavage with industry -- Scandinavia and Finland -- UNESCO and a protest from Africa -- American crafts without a tap-root -- The two main influences from east and west, 'Bauhaus over Sung' -- Spread of individual craftsmanship after two world wars -- The future -- Evolution from communal intuition through personal creativeness towards integration -- 2. Japan, first impressions -- February 16, 1953. Crossing the Pacific -- Tokyo airport and radio Japan -- The folk museum -- The welcome in Dr Yangi's home -- Takumi, the craft guild shop -- A cocktail party at the 'Mainichi' office -- 'Snow' from my window -- Meeting with my oldest Japanses friend Takamura -- Architect Taneguchi -- Emptiness and asymmetry in Japances art -- Partly Malay origins of the Japanese -- Chuo Koron lunch -- We escape to the warm peninsula of Boshu -- Lecture at the Matsuzakaya dept. store -- Kame Chan -- Mrs Blake and the folk museum -- Three forgatherings of craftsmen to hear our tale -- The weavers ask about Ethel Mairet -- Mr Kawasaki -- Lunch at the British Embassy -- Party at the British council -- Fr D'Arcy, S.J., and Augustus John, O.M. March 15th. My first exhibition -- Visit by Prince and Princess Takamatsu -- Mrs Yanagi's concert -- We visit Kamakura -- Daisetsu Suzuki's Buddhist library -- A conversations with him on Zen and Shin Buddhism -- A tea ceremony. My exhibition sold out -- Request for a talk by me from the staff at the Matsuzakaya -- The textile hand-painter Serizawa -- Impromptu supper at a Japanese 'Pub'. -- March 22nd. By train to Nagoya -- Overpopulation -- Hiroshige -- Prints at the Tokugawa museum -- Out loveley 'Hasho Kwan' hotel -- Tea ceremony out of doors -- A geisha party at night -- March 24th. Seto, the Stoke-on-Trent of Japan -- 'Tea' with the Aboot of Kokeizan -- The origins of 'Tea' -- Kyoto -- 'Windows for the Crown Prince' by Mrs Vining -- Rotarian lunch -- Tomimoto and Hamada's opinion of his work -- Dinner at O Harusan's -- The position of geisha -- Outdoor winter strawberries -- March 26th. To Osaka by car -- Another geisha party -- The Osaka Takumi craft shop -- The craft museum -- A lodging for the night -- News of the sudden death of Hamada's father -- Mr Yamamoto -- We visit Tamba -- The village potters -- Kawai's 'Song of Lampreys' -- 3. Deeper impressions -- April 19th. A day at Atami with old friends -- The tea reform society -- Taneguchi and the architecture of new Japan -- The significance of 'Tea' for us -- Japanese misuse of importations from the West -- The Kenzan-Korin exhibition -- Visit and lecture at the Tokyo industrial art institute -- Need of a new kind of designer for industry -- A funeral service at the craft museum -- First visit to Hamada's Masiko -- The old pattern painter Minagawa -- The world faith of Baha'u'llah -- Japan after eighteen years -- The emergence from feudalism -- The occupation -- Pavement weary: the companionship of women in Japan -- A fish-feast at Tamagawa -- Munakata paints and sweats whislt a storm shakes the house -- May day and communisim. Marion Anderson's concert -- Kenzan's daughter, Namiko -- Bishop Goto's tea room -- Kenzan died a Christian -- An evening stroll past the house I built forty years ago -- English-speaking students and their views -- May 14th. Journey to Okayama -- Mr Ohara and his art gallery and folk museum in Kurashiki -- An exhibition of my old work -- A night at Yakage -- Back to a municipal dinner at Kuarshiki -- Town planning -- A raw fish supper with the keeper of the folk museum -- Two Japanses stories
4. Southern travel -- May 22nd, 1953. Across the Inland sea to Shikoku with Yanagi and Hamada -- Dinners and lectures: examinatino of local crafts -- The potter's town, Tobe: discussions with the local potters -- May 25th. Fifty mile drive along the coast: recrossing the Inland Sea -- Cultural effects of the American Occupation. -- 26th. Across Japan to Matsue -- A rude detective in 1935. -- 30th. A discussion with local craftsmen upon the policy of the movement -- THe national inferiority complex -- The Funaki family potters at Fujina -- Making lead glazed slipware with tweleve assistants -- The Sushai Brotherhood of Buddhist potters: imitations of my drawings -- June 6th. The annual craft conference at Tottori -- Out report on the conference in England -- The importance of international as well as national exchange of thought -- Three requisite humilities -- 15th. Back to Matsue -- Mr Abe the paper maker of Yakumo -- The Matsudaira tea room -- The Hearn museum -- The best food in Japan at the Kongoin Temple -- Bones too long, joints too stiff -- 16th. Back again to Tottori to draw the sand dunes -- 18th. To my dentist frined Dr Horicuchi in Kyoto -- Tomimoto -- The Katsura palace -- Rocks in Japanese gardens -- 19th. Back to Tokyo -- 'Neubai', the month of rain -- Fear of the dark -- 23rd. The women's art university -- The opening of hte British council offices -- 25th. A 'Coronation' dinner at the Korin club -- A talk with Mr Yamamoto -- 30th. Robert Blyth author of 'Zen in English literature' -- 5. Hamada's Mashiko -- July 1st, 1953. Eighty miles north to Mashiko -- The chairman of local government -- Richard Hieb -- Hamada's family and set-up in the background of a small potter's town -- Wood shortage -- 3rd. Treatment of visitors -- Local clay and potter's wheels -- 4th. Footwear -- Summer sun after the rainy season -- Hieb's Japanese -- 6th. The working day -- Physical discomforts -- The order of the bath -- 7th. The Corean tragedy -- Hamada's clay textures, throwing procedure, state of mind and sense of form contrasted with ours -- 9th. Pot drying in sun and shower -- Biscuit packing and firing -- How to stoke a damp kiln -- 12th. Clay valley -- The chorus of the frogs -- 14th. Glazing -- Visitors, the Krings from Worcester, Mass. and local minor officials. -- 15th to 18th. Shopping in Tokyo, back by car with Yanagi. -- 19th. Opening stoneware kiln fired in my absence -- Pots set upon seashells -- 20th. Visit to Silk village -- Yanagi's criticism -- Nasu hot springs -- A gathering to the intellectuals and officials of the province -- 28th. Summer heat, damp and insects -- Visit to the seaside: sunburn -- 30th. The town festival -- Minagawa the painter of teapots -- Dog's hair brushes -- Minagawa and the Emperor -- Hamada's friend Sakuma -- Stories of humility -- 6. In the mountains. Matsumoto -- August 3rd, 1953. The Japanese Alps -- The Kazanso hotel -- The emperor's room -- The valley of Matsumoto -- The gardeners -- 9th. No-man's land of dreams -- 11th. New Japan -- 'The way of the potter, east and west'. -- 19th. An excursion -- Nagano station -- A mountain village -- Togakushi; Zenkoji temple and popular Buddhism -- The 'Haiku' poet, Issa's, last home -- Lake Nojiri and half-cast accommodation -- Radio in the bus -- Fruit in Japan -- 23rd. Another excursion through mountain villages to Lake Suwa -- 25th. The old curio dealer -- Designing western furniture with local craftsmen -- Spet. 1st. Origins of Japanese pottery -- We climb our 6,000 ft. peak -- The wild flowers -- We see the film 'Moulin Rouge' -- A banker's 'expensive water' -- 3rd. Book work -- 4th. The Kyoto cake maker -- Eels from Tamba -- 6th. 'Sen cha', the cult of green tea -- 9th. Buddhist culture from China and Industrial culture from the west -- 10th. A pure and lovely nun -- 11th. Across the valley of Matsumoto -- 13th. Back to Tokyo and Mashiko -- Work there and at St Ives contrasted -- 18th. Okinawan folk -- 19th. Back to the mountains -- Lecture at Matsumoto university -- 20th. Journey to the high Alps, Kamikochi -- September 24th. A furniture factory at Matsumoto -- 27th. Drawings for local postcards -- Mounting Japanese Kakemono -- 28th. A poetess calls -- Giving and receiving presents in Japan -- 30th. Spirit over matter, or matter over spirit, out dilemma.
7. Around the main island in harvest time -- October 2nd, 1953. 250 miles north to Ichinoseki -- Chusonji Temple -- 50 miles to the Morioka hotel designed by craftsmen -- Chinese script by modern artists -- Woollen textiles by Oikawa -- 7th. To Aomori in the extreme north -- Prehistoric Jomon pottery -- 37 miles inland to Lake Towada -- 10th. Pachinko -- Hirosaki -- Harvest time -- 11th. Niigata -- Echibition of Hamada's work and mine -- 12th. A Japanese manor house -- Ming porcelain ordered by Japanese tea masters -- Mr Tanaka's Corean Ri pots -- Their significance to us -- A crowded day -- Rotarian lunch, two lectures, a great dinner and open forum discussion, photographers and the press -- 14th. 150 miles of coastline to stay with Sukeemon Ito in the village of N -- His collection of Tomimoto pots -- 16th. Toyama -- Mr Ohara's 'Vinilon' Factory -- 17th. Reception by Governor Takatsuji -- Films and lectures -- An inland detour toward the Japanese Alps, Yohanna, Folk dances, Gokayama and remote upland life -- 23rd. Back to the coast and on to Kanazawa -- More receptions and lectures -- Yamashiro spar near old Kutani and the Suda potter's family -- Yanagi returns and young Suzuki arrives -- Work in the Sudas' pottery -- The local craftsmen -- Dying traditions -- Looking at old pots with Hamada -- The hard way forward -- Morita and my early days in Japan -- 28th. Suzuki's history and his stories abotu Yangi -- November 2nd. Farewell until next spring -- 8. Back in Tokyo and Kyoto -- Novemeber 3rd, 1953. Roads, traffic and bicycles -- 7th. Takumi exhibition -- 8th. The signing of pots and imitation -- Lectures at Utsunomya and Nagano -- Cuckoo and nightingale -- The Kichizaemon Edo tea bowl -- 15th. Tomimoto's poem, 'The red Sazanka will bloom again' -- 20th. The need for an overall world faith -- 21st. With Tomimoto to the 'Hari Han' hotel -- 22nd. Visit to the Zen temple, Daitokuji -- 23rd. A visit to Koyetsu's Takagamine village -- 25th. A film called 'Muhomono' (Lawless Man) -- Shizuoka and its industrial art school -- 26th. Letter to an Italian sculptor on north and south and on our Greek inheritance -- December 16th. Back to Tokyo and my study of Japanses history between A.D. 1558 and A.D. 1743 -- Animals in Japan and China -- Christmas letters -- 17th. Christmas tress in Tokyo -- 18. Kanze N -- 25th. Christmas day -- 9. Onda -- April 1st, 1954. South to Kyushu via the Inland sea -- Onda of the mountain plates -- Preparation of clay with Chinese water stamps -- 8th. The first gathering at the Sakamoto house -- Hamada and Kawai return, work commences. -- 11th. Visit of young potters from Koishibara -- Discussion at night, 'What did I think of Picasso as a potter?' -- 12th. Spring festival -- Pulling English handles -- The unknown craftsman at home and his methods -- The copying of my pots, imitation and integrations -- Takeichi Kawai returns to Kyoto -- 21st. The firing of the kiln -- 22nd. The last day and Governor Hosoda's visit -- 23rd. Koishibara potters' village over the mountains -- 27th. Return to Kyoto, recuperation at the Horiuchis' home. -- A Tomimoto story and a visit with him to the First Kenzan's Kiln site at Narutaki and to his house in the compound of the Nanaki temple -- May 12th. Return to Tokyo -- 10. Conclusions and farewells -- May 15th, 1954. Annual craft meeting at Utsunomya -- My protest against 'copying' individual design -- 'Tengu Samma' -- Second journey to Kanazawa -- A visit to a local potter -- Early and late Kutani wares -- Pots by the First Kenzan and copies -- June 29th. Back to Tokyo for the Takashimaya exhibition by Tomimoto, Kawai, Hamada and myself -- Why Japanese copy our errors -- Mr Koyama's exhibition of western pottery at Kamkura -- The great Daibutsu -- Mr Akaboshi's collection of Corean Ri porcelain -- The unwritten book on Corean pottery by Mr Asakawa -- August 6th. Matsumoto once again -- Janet Darnell -- The little nun -- My books' progress -- Yanagi, Hamada and Kawai arrive -- The background of Yanagi's book on pottery -- 'Mu' and Yanagi's contribution to aesthetics -- Reintegration -- Shinichi Suzuki the teacher of violin and his tone-deaf pupils -- A Japanese angler -- A telephone call from UNESCO -- Strange foods -- September 10th. The UNESCO conference -- The Japanese craft movement ignored -- My committee's recommendations -- Scant attention to Asiatic culture, education or craftsmanship -- My please as an English craftsman -- Visit to Dr Suzuki at Kamakura -- Oriental and Occidental concepts of God. His story of the rounds of Heaven -- October 18th. Last journey to Mashiko -- Prince Mikasa -- Tamba Kiln -- Tomimoto and Horiuchi -- I buy a set of Kenzan dishes -- Farewell dinner at the Alaska restaurant -- Mr Bavier's song of parting -- November 16th. My final exhibition at Mitsugoshi -- 20th. Farewell gathering at he museum -- 26th. Night depature at Tokyo airport -- Glossary -- Index. Subjects: Leach, Bernard 1887-1979 Diaries. Pottery, Japanese. Folk art Japan.
Price: €60.00