Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty by Sōetsu Yanagi

Title: The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty Subtitle: A Japanese Insight into Beauty Author: Sōetsu Yanagi (柳 宗悦, Yanagi Sōetsu) Adapted by: Bernard Leach Foreword by: Shōji Hamada (revised edition) Publisher: Kodansha International, Tokyo / New York Publication Date: First edition 1972; revised edition 1989; 2013 reprint Edition: Printing: Format: Paperback (1989/2013) / Hardcover (1972 first edition) Pages: 232 (230 pp. in first edition) Illustrations: 76 plates (12 color, 64 black and white) ISBN-13: 978-1568365206 (2013) / 978-0870119484 (1990 revised pbk) / 978-0870111846 (1972 hc) Language: English Dimensions: 9.4 × 7.1 in. (242 × 193 mm) Series: N/A Condition: Very Good Notes: Description: A foundational text for anyone serious about Japanese aesthetics, folk craft, and the philosophy of making. Yanagi Sōetsu — philosopher, collector, and founder of the mingei (民芸, folk craft) movement — argues that the most profound beauty resides in anonymous, handmade objects created within living tradition rather than by the individual artistic ego. Adapted by the celebrated British potter Bernard Leach, this volume collects Yanagi's major essays on the Buddhist foundations of beauty, the Tea ceremony, the nature of shibui (渋い), and the ethics of craft in an industrializing world. Seventy-six plates illustrate the objects — Korean Yi-dynasty rice bowls, Okinawan bingata textiles, Japanese folk pottery — that anchored his vision. Essential reading for collectors, studio potters, and students of Japanese material culture.