Koyama Fujio 小山 富士夫 1900-1975

Born in Okayama Prefecture, Japan

A scholar of ancient Chinese and Japanese ceramics as well as a ceramist in his own right, KOYAMA FUJIO first began studying ceramics in 1925. After working as a researcher of antique pottery at the Oriental Ceramics Institute, he was employed at the Tokyo Teishitsu Museum (predecessor of the Tokyo National Museum) and was appointed to evaluate and rank cultural properties as Intangible Cultural Properties for the Bunkacho. In the 1950s, he was instrumental in establishing the Living National Treasure system. Unfortunately, Koyama was tricked into authenticating fake 13th century Seto shards created by Katō Tōkurō (1898-1985) and, in the aftermath of this scandal, resigned from his positions. It was only then that he rediscovered his own passion for making ceramic pieces. He built his first kiln in Toki in Gifu in 1972 and created a remarkable range of work using kilns in Kyoto, Shigaraki, Mino, Bizen, Hagi, Tobe, and Karatsu.