Shimura Fukumi

Portrait of Fukumi Shimura

Shimura Fukumi ( Japanese 志 村 ふ く み ; born September 30, 1924 in Ōmihachiman , Shiga Prefecture ) is a Japanese dyer, weaver of Japanese silk and author of Zuihitsu . It was declared in 1990 as a living national treasure for the important intangible cultural asset “dyeing and manufacturing of Japanese silk”.

Life

Fukumi Shimura studied at the Bunka Gakuin private school, which she graduated in 1942. Through her mother, who was taken with Sōetsu Yanagi , who was active in the folk art movement , she began to deal with weaving. Subsequently, she learned to weave and dye Japanese silk from her teachers Tatsuaki Kuroda , Kenkichi Tomimoto and Toshijirō Inagaki . In 1957 she presented her work for the first time at the annual exhibition of the Japanese Society for Crafts.

In addition to her handicraft work, Fukumi Shimura is also known for her writing. In 1983 she was awarded the Osaragi Jirō Prize for her essays (zuihitsu) Isshiku isshō ( 一色 一生 ). In 1986 she received the Medal of Honor on the violet ribbon. Fukumi Shimura was named a Living National Treasure on April 25, 1990 for weaving Japanese silk, and in 1993 he was named the Person of Special Cultural Merit . In 2014 she received the Kyoto Prize . In 2015 she was honored with the Order of Culture .

Today she and her daughter Yōko run the Ars Shimura studio and the Fukumi Shimura Gallery in Sagano in the Ukyō district , Kyoto .

Web links

• Shimuranoiro. Fukumi & Yoko Shimura, October 2011(English,Shimura'sofficial website). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 志 村 ふ く み . kotobank.jp デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus , accessed March 12, 2015 (Japanese). 
2. ↑ 京都 賞 、 人間 国宝 の 志 村 ふ く み 氏 ら ３ 氏 授 賞 式 . Nikkei Keizai Shinbun, November 10, 2014, accessed March 12, 2015 (Japanese). 

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Shimura is the family name, Fukumi the first name.