Manji Inoue

Manji Inoue ( Japanese 井上 萬 二 , Inoue Manji ; born March 24, 1929 in Arita , Saga Prefecture ) is a Japanese potter and ceramic artist. It was declared in 1995 as a living national treasure for the important intangible cultural asset “ceramic production”.

Despite the family tradition in ceramics, Manji Inoue first attended a training course to become a marine pilot at the age of 15. After the war he worked on the advice of his father at Sakaida Kakiemon XII. , a ceramic master for Kakiemon porcelain , who continued the family tradition, which dates back to the 16th century, in the 12th generation. After seven years of practical work, he became a student of the ceramic master Okugawa Chūemon (1901-1975) in 1952 , where he learned how to use the potter's wheel and how to make white Hakuji porcelain. After the retirement of his first teacher, Manji worked from 1958 as a technician for the prefectural ceramics testing laboratory in Arita. In 1969, at the invitation of the University of Pennsylvania , Manji traveled to America for five months to teach at the university.

Manji Inoue was named the Living National Treasure on May 31, 1995 for his white porcelain. In 1997 he also received the Medal of Honor on the violet ribbon. He is also an honorary citizen of his hometown Arita. Since 2007 he has been running a kiln and exhibition room together with his son Inoue Yasunori ( Brenn 康 Ausstellungs). Most recently he showed his works in 2012 at an exhibition in New York.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 井上 萬 二 . In: 美術 人名 辞 at kotobank.jp. Retrieved March 18, 2015 (Japanese). 

Web links

• 井上 萬 二 プ ロ フ ィ ー ル (陶 歴) . 白 磁 有 田 焼 陶 芸 家 井上 康 徳, 2007,accessed March 18, 2015(Japanese). 
• 井上 萬 二 窯 井上 萬 二 さ ん (83) . Asahi Shimbun, October 9, 2012,accessed March 18, 2015(Japanese). 
• 井上 萬 二 白 磁 展 - 傘 寿 記念 - . Wako, 2009,accessed March 18, 2015(Japanese, with illustrations).