Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada collaborated in the early 1920's - first in Japan and then in the UK. Hamada returned to Japan in 1923 and eventually moved to Mashiko where he and other artists formed the mingei folk art movement.
I visited Mashiko in 2012 a year after the devastating Tohoku earthquake and the nuclear accident in Fukushima. Many traditional noborigama kilns were damaged or destroyed in the earthquake and much of the wood used for firing was unusable because it was contaminated by radiation.
An outpouring of financial support led to the creation of the "Mashiko Art and Craft Residence" hosting visiting artists.
Mashiko's artistic residency program.
Noborigama, the wood-fired kilns.
Philip Leach, a grandson of Bernard Leach, was the inaugural foreign artist. I met Philip during my visit together with Tomoo Hamada, a grandson of Shoji Hamada.
Meeting potter, Philip Leach.
Potter Shoji Hamada's sankokan.
Shoji's grandson, potter Tomoo Hamada.
My visit to Mashiko inspired me to describe the recovery of this wonderful area published in Ceramics Monthly, December 2014.
Clay Culture: Mashiko Renewal
by Minori Thorpe with Ashley R. Barber