A Celebration of Folk Craft
In 1926, three friends — Soetsu Yanagi, Kanjiro Kawai and Shoji Hamada — set out to found a new kind of museum, based on the word they had just coined: mingei, meaning “folk craft.” At the time, the idea that everyday objects made by unknown craftspeople held aesthetic value just like fine art was quite revolutionary. Ten years later, in 1936, that vision became tangible when the Japan Folk Crafts Museum (Mingeikan) opened its doors.
This exhibition marks two milestones at once: a century since that founding prospectus and 90 years since the museum itself opened. Visitors can trace the long road to that opening and follow Yanagi’s vision — from his designs for the building to the objects he collected and the remarkable care he took with every detail, down to the cases, the wallpaper and the light.
Horse, tiles in iron painting. Bernard Leach (1928) © The Japan Folk Crafts Museum
