Japanese Folk Crafts Museum

Founded in 1936 by Yanagi Sōetsu, a religious philosopher, scholar, art researcher, and advocate in researching folk crafts. It is currently managed by The Japanese Folk Crafts Museum Foundation, a public interest corporation (The Japanese Folk Crafts Museum Foundation, Corporate Number (Assigned by Japan's National Tax Agency): [https://www.houjin-bangou.nta.go.jp/henkorireki-johoto.html?selHouzinNo=9013205001720 9013205001720] ) operating from the museum.

{{See also|Mingei|Yanagi Sōetsu|}}

{{See also|Mingei |and Yanagi Sōetsu for more reference}}

The founder, Yanagi Sōetsu, wanted to showcase various types of Japanese and Korean pottery/porcelain, textile arts, lacquer ware, wood and bamboo crafts, and the unknown artisans making these everyday items. Some other specific examples included are Korea's Joseon Period artistic handicrafts and wooden Buddhist statues carved by Mokujiki. The focus on introducing these various types of art history that previously had not been properly appreciated, not considered western fine art or an expensive antique, or by unknown craftsman created the Mingei movement. Inspired by Korean crafts,Yanagi Sōetsu's fascination with folk art developed through multiple trips to Korea during the Japanese colonial period. He defined folk crafts based on how they were made, wanting to highlight the beauty in that which was made by non-professional artists for more utilitarian purposes.{{cite journal |last1=Moeran |first1=Brian |title=Yanagi Muneyoshi and the Japanese Folk Craft Movement |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |date=1981 |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=87–99 |doi=10.2307/1178143 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1178143 |access-date=April 22, 2025}}

The museum was established in 1936 by Yanagi Sōetsu, the founder of the mingei movement; Hamada Shōji succeeded him as its director.{{cite news|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fa20100416a2.html|title=Finding beauty in the simplest of things|last=Haruhara|first=Yoko|date=April 16, 2010|work=The Japan Times|publisher=The Japan Times, Ltd|accessdate=4 December 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mingeikan.or.jp/english/html/about-mingeikan.html |title=About the Mingeikan |publisher=Japan Folk Crafts Museum |access-date=12 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510170818/http://www.mingeikan.or.jp/english/html/about-mingeikan.html |archive-date=10 May 2012 }} Yanagi and Hamada officially announced their desire to establish a folk crafts museum in 1926.{{cite book |title=The Beauty of Everyday Things |author=Soetsu Yanagi |publisher=Penguin Classics |isbn=9780241366356 |year=2019 |pages=327f}} Construction began on the museum in 1935 and was completed in 1936.

Yanagi moved back to Tokyo in January 1935 and in March received an offer of 100,000 yen from businessman, Magosaburō Ōhara (founder of Kuraray, Ohara Museum of Art, and The Ohara Institute for Social Research, Hosei University) to help fund opening a museum. In September 1936, the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum was opened next to his house. Yanagi was the first director and the opening exhibition was an "Exhibition of Crafts by Contemporary Artists,” containing work from potters such as Shōji Hamada, Kawai Kanjirō, and Tomimoto Kenkichi.

File:Mingeikan-1.jpg

• Main Building - A 2 story wooden construction with a tile roof and a total floor space of 685.26m²{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}
• New Building - Completed in 1982, it is a reinforced concrete construction with a total floor space of 754.46m².{{citation |editor=The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo |language=ja |script-title=ja:民藝の100年：柳宗悦没後60年記念展 |trans-title=100 Years of Mingei: Commemorative Exhibition for the 60th Anniversary of the Death of Yanagi Muneyoshi |date=2021 |isbn=978-4-907102-40-1 |page=268}}

It is built where the original main hall was and is connected to the main building.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}. The original main hall was dismantled and reconstructed in Toyota City's folk art museum.『日本民藝館手帖』、p.109　

• Western Building - Yanagi's residence (newly restored and open to the public for a limited time, 4 times a month) and the Nagaya gate (not open to the public) were both built in the Meiji Period. They are across the street from the main building{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}.

In 2001 each building was reinforced/renovated with support from the Nippon Foundation and financial world/business circles.

• Painted Karatsu jar with reed pattern - registered in 2003.{{Cite web |date= |title=絵唐津芦文壺 |url=https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/158568 |url-status=live |accessdate=2022-01-18 |website=bunka.nii.ac.jp |page=文化遺産オンライン}} It is considered a representative example of Karatsu pottery.

• Main Building（including the connected wall）{{Cite web |title=詳細情報 : 東京都文化財情報データベース |url=https://bunkazai.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/jp/search_detail.html?page=1&id=4251 |url-status=dead |accessdate=2022-01-18 |website=bunkazai.metro.tokyo.lg.jp}}
• The Western Building was the residence of Yanagi Sōetsu
• Western Building's Nagaya Gate（including the connected wall）

• Tomimoto Kenkichi Memorial Museum
• Folk Cultural Properties
• Japanese craft

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• [http://www.mingeikan.or.jp/english/ Official site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221195921/http://www.mingeikan.or.jp/english/ |date=2008-12-21 }}

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Category:Art museums and galleries in Tokyo

Category:Folk art museums and galleries in Japan

Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1936

Category:1936 establishments in Japan

Category:Buildings and structures in Meguro

Category:Mingei