Shoji Hamada

Bottle, stoneware, Ryukyu-style on-glaze decoration

Period

c.1959

Size

Length8.1×Width17.9×Height11cm

After Shoji Hamada moved to Mashiko Town in Tochigi Prefecture when he was around thirty years old, he visited Okinawa Prefecture every year with his wife and children during the harsh winter season to work at a kiln in Tsuboya. This work was made there. A dachibin is a portable saké bottle widely used in Okinawa Prefecture, with a crescent-shaped body suitable for being carried around the waist.

Shoji Hamada

1894－1978

Born in Takatsu Village (present day Kawasaki City), Kanagawa Prefecture. He studied ceramics at Tokyo Higher Technical School (now Tokyo Institute of Technology), where he met Kanjiro Kawai. In 1920, he went with Bernard Leach to Britain to built climbing kiln and make pottery. After returning to Japan, he promoted the Mingei Movement from his base in Mashiko in Tochigi Prefecture.