Mingei-kan_The Japan Folk Crafts Museum_Tokyo

It was 1925 when Yanagi Sōetsu, together with potter Kanjiro Kawai and Shoji Hamada, coined the term 'Mingei' literally meaning 'folk crafts' or 'common crafts'. In the following year, he announced a prospectus for the formation of a museum of folk crafts and started the endeavour of establishing a museum. While Yanagi devoted himself in promoting the Mingei philosophy and introducing various handicrafts from all over Japan, The Japan Folk Crafts Museum was finally founded in 1936 and Yanagi became first president of the museum. The Main Hall was designed by Soetsu Yanagi himself and registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 1999. It is wooden building using Oya-stone. Soetsu Yanagi vision of his museum: "I would like to grow up the whole museum to be one product, if possible. (...) A museum in general tends to be a dry and unfriendly display room, so I wish to make it warmer and intimate." | External photos by Martin Grossmann and inside ones (since photos are forbidden inside) from the museum's site | October 2019 | URL: http://www.mingeikan.or.jp/english/