Dish - Stoneware - Living National Treasure

Item Description

This charming plate is a work by 金城次郎 Kinjo Jiro (1912-2004), the celebrated Okinawan potter and the first Okinawan ever designated a Living National Treasure (Holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property) of Japan in 1985.

The plate features Kinjo's most beloved motif: two lively fish swimming around the well, accompanied by fishing nets. The design is executed in his signature senbori (incised line) technique, in which bold, confident lines are carved directly into the clay before glazing. The fish are highlighted with cobalt blue and amber-brown iron glaze over a warm, creamy white slip, while the exterior is finished in a deep, glossy dark brown glaze. The famous potter Hamada Shoji once remarked that "Jiro's fish are smiling," and the playful, vivid energy of these fish captures exactly that spirit.

Rooted in the Mingei (folk craft) tradition of Tsuboya ware, this piece embodies the honest, robust beauty that made Kinjo Jiro a central figure of Ryukyu pottery. The wheel marks and natural firing traces in the center add to the handmade character of the piece.

The plate comes with its original wooden box (tomobako), inscribed "Gyomon-zara" (Fish Pattern Plate) on the lid and signed "Jiro" with a red seal, together with an original biographical leaflet issued by the Yomitan Tsuboya-yaki shop.

Size
Height: 4.5 cm
Width: 14 cm
Depth: 14 cm

Weight
630 g (including wooden box)

Condition
Excellent condition with no visible chips, cracks or restorations; glaze pooling, pitting and kiln marks are inherent to the traditional firing process. The wooden box shows light wear, and the leaflet has minor spots and fold marks.

Artist Profile
Kinjo Jiro (1912-2004) was born in Naha, Okinawa, and began learning pottery in Tsuboya, the historic center of Okinawan ceramics, in 1924. Influenced by Yanagi Soetsu and Hamada Shoji of the Mingei movement, he devoted his life to Tsuboya ware and opened his own kiln in Tsuboya in 1946, after the end of the Battle of Okinawa.

He won the New Artist Prize at the 30th Kokuten exhibition in 1956, and in 1958 two of his works were acquired for the permanent collection of the National Folk Art Museum in Romania. In 1972 he built a climbing kiln in Zakimi, Yomitan Village, laying the foundation for the present-day "Yachimun no Sato" pottery village, and was designated a holder of Okinawa Prefecture's Intangible Cultural Property in the same year. He received the Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1981, and in 1985 became the first Okinawan to be designated a Living National Treasure of Japan. Renowned above all for his fish and shrimp motifs, Kinjo Jiro remains one of the most beloved figures in Japanese folk-craft pottery.

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