Kaneshige Tōyō 金重 陶陽 1896-1967

The first Bizen potter to be designated as Living National Treasure in 1956, KANESHIGE TŌYŌ was a seminal ceramic artist of twentieth-century Japan. By the late 1920s, he had begun his life-long pursuit of revitalizing Ko-Bizen (Old Bizen) wares of the Momoyama period (1573-1615). He rediscovered the techniques used to produce such wares, namely the long-lost methods of clay preparation, kiln building, loading, and firing, and revived the style of Old Bizen ware. The popularity of his wares helped lay the foundation for Bizen’s present prosperity.