Shimaoka, Tatsuzo

▪ 2008

      Japanese potter

born Oct. 27, 1919, Tokyo, Japan

died Dec. 11, 2007, Mashiko, Japan

was a master craftsman who was a protégé of Shoji Hamada, a leading proponent of the Mingei philosophy, which held that the quality of a piece of art was interconnected with the spirit with which it was created. Shimaoka's trademark was a braiding process that he applied to his pottery; the technique was a fusion of Japanese Jomon pottery and Korean decorative arts. In 1996 Shimaoka was designated a Living National Treasure, and in 1999 he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun.

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