Grand tea master
Visiting Professor at Kyoto University
Visiting Professor at Kyoto City University of Arts
Visiting Professor at Department of Architecture of Kwansei Gakuin University

Born in 1976, in Ehime Prefecture.
Graduate of Kobe University. He studied Japanese tea culture from an early age, and established the Hoshinkai Tea Society in 1997. Mr. Kimura presides over the society’s training facilities in Kyoto and Tokyo and in various regions of the country. A wide range of artists, including potters, academics, researchers and executives have studied the tea ceremony at the Hoshinkai and influenced their own expressions.

Japanese tea ceremony culture is described as the Liberal Arts of hospitality. It is closely related to a wide range of arts, from ceramics to various crafts such as lacquer and woodwork, architecture and the food environment.
He also writes on the subject of the tea ceremony in various media and is involved in the direction of exhibitions. He works in collaboration with many Japanese and overseas creators, seeking to obtain understanding of the Japanese tea culture from multiple perspectives. Mr. Kimura has earned a reputation for his stance of reinterpreting the ancient in modern terms, and his broad expression not only of Japanese tea culture but Japanese culture across a wide range of stages. He was decorated Medal with Dark Blue Ribbon by His Majesty the Emperor in 2010.

In 2005 he directed the installation of the Kuan tea room (designed by Hisanobu Tsujimura) at the Milano Salone and the tea room (TEEHAUS, designed by Kengo Kuma) at the Museum fur Angewandt Kunst (design and arts museum) in Germany. In 2011 he was awarded the Gold Prize by the Japan Commercial Environmental Design Association (JCD) for the Kasaan tea room he directed.

Tajimi City aims to promote our regional ceramics culture, “Minoyaki” , to the world and to become a city where people involved in the ceramics industry and young people aspiring to become ceramic artists gather.

[History of the region]
Tajimi City is part of the largest ceramics producing district in Japan with neighboring
cities, Toki and Mizunami is called Mino, and the ceramics produced in this area is called “Minoyaki” or Minoware. “Minoyaki” consists of a wide range of ceramics which includes mass produced tableware, tiles, to traditional tea bowls and ceramic artistic practices. The history of the “Minoyaki” starts at the beginning of the 7th century. Since then, kilns have been firing ceramics for over 1300 years.

[Overview of Ishoken]
Ishoken (Tajimi city pottery design and technical center) was established in October 1959, transferring operations from the Minoyaki Overglaze and Enamel Decoration Research Center.
Currently, 13 staff members, including two members of the IAC (NAKASHIMA Harumi, YAMASHITA Naho,KOMAI Masato and YATSUGI Miho), are making use of their expertise in ceramics to support the local industry and educate Japanese and International aspiring ceramicists.
Around 1000 students have graduated our ceramic curricula since the first graduates from March 1960 and now are active as ceramic artists and designers. We also have been accepting
international research students.

In terms of industry support, we have contributed to the development of the local ceramics industry by providing design and technical support. Besides Minoyaki’s long history and tradition, the 1st International Ceramics Festival Mino, was held in Tajimi in 1986. Many works were submitted from countries all over the world. Since then the Festival has been held every three years with the theme of “From You, From Now, From Here.” Since the beginning, 25 graduates of Ishoken have won various prizes including the grand prize.

For me, decoration is a more eloquent expression of feelings than words. By impromptu transforming the energy swirling in my mind into decoration, I give form to my own chaotic and indescribable feelings. My decorations are a mixture of human, animal, plant, and inorganic forms because I consider all to be equal and the same. In Japan, there is a myth that intertwine gods, animals, and plants, and in Buddhism there is the teaching “Buddhist nature dwells in all beings”. This idea of empathy for all things unconsciously appears in my decoration and teaches me that even I bear a history. Since prehistoric times, people have expressed the state of the world, nations, and individuals through their decorations, passing them on to future generations as “proof” that they existed.
My “proof of living in the present” is recorded in my impromptu and diverse decorations.

Born in 1971, live and works in Kyoto, Japan.
Yoshinori Akazawa Roseki V is Kyoto-based Contemporary Artist, Ceramic, Sculpture, Nihonga (Japanese-style painting), Photography.
His artistic activity is based in Japan but has been exhibited and collected around the world in Italy, Spain, Austria, Tunisia, France, Latvia and many others.

Mieko Sawada is a professor of Japanese language and culture at the Kyoto Institute of Technology specializing in Linguistics and KOGEI (Japanese Arts and crafts). She is a writer, academic, and critic of Arts and Crafts and an award-winning educator. Professor Sawada is a member of the Japan Ceramic Society and has published five books on KOGEI and one book on Japanese ceramic artists. Today, her international active learning program on Japanese art and craft continues to grow with enthusiasm. Currently, Professor Sawada is excited to be included as an acting juror for a new national grant project in guidance with the Minister of Cultural Affairs.

Sokyo Gallery represents over thirty artists in and out of Japan. The gallery handles work in contemporary crafts, such as sculptural ceramic, lacquer, glass and textile.

In 2018, the “Atsumi Fujita Project” was founded under Sokyo Gallery, and it focuses on contemporary art besides contemporary crafts. It presents painting, photography, drawing and textiles that are inspired from traditional materials and sensitivities that exist in daily life and the nature.

The gallery holds twelve exhibitions per year and participates in international art fairs all over the world such as Dangdai, Artissima, JINGART, ART021, Design Basel, TEFAF Maastricht Showcase, Collect London and more.

In addition to the exhibitions and art fairs, Sokyo Gallery works closely with museums and institutions to organize exhibitions and promote our artists. Sokyo also contributes public art projects which enliven local communities. Sokyo Gallery additionally works with architects and interior designers to create artistic spaces for world-renowned hotels, restaurants and department stores.

Over the past three decades, my work has revolved around shaping the unseen—waves, winds, shadows, and silence—through the medium of ceramics. I explore the interplay between light and form, surface and space, using porcelain, slip casting, and layered slips to create works that reflect the invisible rhythms of nature.

My practice spans from public ceramic monuments and architectural reliefs to intimate vessels and poetic sculptural installations. I often work in series, such as the “Wave” and “Surface” series, in which the repetition and transformation of forms evoke movement and quiet tension. The use of “empty space” and subtle light gradations is a recurring element in my approach.

In recent years, I have expanded my methods through digital technologies, integrating 3D modeling and printing into ceramic production. These processes allow new kinds of precision and unpredictability, adding another layer of dialogue between the material and the intangible.

Notable works include a spiral ceramic monument at Kanazawa Station (2014), large-scale reliefs for The Peninsula Tokyo (2007), and recent porcelain installations developed during my residency at Tao Xichuan Art Center in Jingdezhen, China (2025). Across these diverse formats, I continue to pursue ceramics not only as form, but as a medium of perception, memory, and presence.

Through my works, I seek to create spaces that resonate—visually, physically, and quietly—inviting viewers to experience a moment of pause, reflection, or connection with the subtle forces of the world.

My work is a Contemporary art and also a craft. I think always, and I would like be able to offer their critical point. Recently, I am trying approach to contemporary art from ceramic art. We as a potter, make vessels. I am making vessels for invisible or things without shapes and volume. For example vessel for sounds, vessel for time, vessel for light or rays. KAGAYAKI is vessel of lights or rays. I made KAGAYAKI body by translucent clay. I illuminated it with LED lights from inner.
My work is a Contemporary art and also a KOUGEI which mean Japanese craft. I have tried to create artworks by the new ceramic technique or idea developed from the basic and traditional way of KOUGEI. I am challenging to create my works with the aim of the fusion of KOUGEI art and contemporary art. I hope be an artist who will expand a new style or area with possibility of my pursuit for this fusion and will greatly contribute to the ceramic culture.

Shigaraki is a pottery production area with a long history. Shigaraki Share Studio provides studio space to help artists establish their presence in the area. We also plan to support the area by collaborating with artists, manufacturers, and trading companies to develop products. In addition, from 2024 onwards, we will also be guiding tourists (people involved in pottery and art) from overseas who visit Shigaraki area.
If you are interested, please contact us.

Since ancient times, ceramic ware has been produced in the east area of Gifu Prefecture. Today it forms the world largest class ceramic industry block. For cultural promotion and industrial support in this region, Ceramic Park Mino was founded in 2002. Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu is contained in the park.
Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu collects modern works of ceramic art from Japan and around the world and holds various exhibitions with “Modern age of ceramic art” as theme. Through ceramics, it also creates a human network and promotes activities to develop a relationship with the local community.

Science and technique are necessary in ceramics.
However, I believe it is prayer.

Humans demand joy in their life.
Literature, philosophy, music, religion, dance, performance, etc…

Time and thoughts became the culture.
And richness and pleasant were given in the life.

In the infinite transparency like the water from a spring,
I want to find the life.

The idea of ‘花 / HANA’ has to do with the nature of clay, the surface of which is permeable and easily inscribed before firing ,but becomes affixed and eternal record after firing. One shard can give testament to the period of some thousand years ago. With that in mind, I inscribed the forms of living plants in clay and, by firing the clay, created proof of their existence in the remaining traces.

To make ceramics, you touch the clay directly with your hands and exclude air with your palms. When fired, the clay turns into a different substance, the shape of which will not change, even if re-heated. That is the character of this material. We get a tactile sense just by looking at it, and we feel a sense of warmth, like touching human skin. Glass is closely related to ceramics but in my mind has a totally opposite quality as a material. It can only be created with tools, not by direct touch, because it is shaped through the application of heat. There is no end to the fascination of watching glass, sometimes transparent, sometimes liquid, transform.

The relationship to the viewer changes depending on where and how the works are placed. The viewer, though, encounters and becomes one with the space where the work is exhibited.

My works are a testimony to my own life. I feel that I am motivated by the age we live in, that I am moving with the times.

President of ISCAEE(International Society for Ceramic Art Education andExchange),
Professorthe Emeritus at Tokyo University of
the Arts. 1975 Completed postgraduate studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts .
Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University, Chinese Academy of Arts, Beijing, China, Guest Professor

2003,2004,2006　July member of Checki International ceramic competition in Anadole University, Turkey
2006 (ISCAEE) in China.
2007 ○ISCAEE in England.
2008 ○ISCAEE in Kenya.
2009 ○International Jury member for the 5th World Ceramic Biennale
○ISCAEE in Korea.
2010 ○ Fumio Shimada Exhibition at Sano City Museum-Yoshizawa Memorial Museum of Art.
2012　○International July member for the “1st World Ceramic Competition in Jing De Zhen ”
2013 ○International Jury member for “2nd World Ceramic Competition in Jing De Zhen ”
Lecture
ISCAEE 2013 Antalya- Turkey (International exchange in Ceramics between Japan, Korea, China)

2013 April JSPS-(Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) in Kolon,
(International exchange in Ceramics between Japan, Korea, China)

2014 August Indonesia AFC (Asia Future Conference) The History of Technical Exchange in North and Southeast Asia Ceramic Cultures & it’s Implications for the future

Toshio Ohi Chozaemon XI. Born in 1958, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. The Member of the Japan Art Academy and a visual artist, designer, lecturer, judge and member of numerous associations.

Art work is collected such as in the British
Museum and USA, Brazil, Europe, Asia and Japan. He has been exhibiting for all over the world including Augarten Museum in Vienna Austria 2024 October -2025 March.

[KOKOMITOTTE MEDERU] words are quoted from the theory of Japanese traditional gardening. Since old times in Japan, a private garden space was created, by setting a boundary with very simple fences in the untouched nature. That is a method of creating a private space. Today we face an excessive amount of information through our experience and knowledge, material, technique, contemporary senses and environment and so forth. And this is my method of making art, setting a thematic boundary in an information-oriented environment without deleting the information.