Kawai Kanjiro’s House

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Step in to this cozy abode, so well preserved that one would imagine Kanjiro stepping out to greet you

A space echoing resoundingly to the aesthetic sense of the artist

In 1937, the ceramic artist Kanjiro Kawai designed this property, with residential space, studio and climbing kiln, to be a home and workplace he would live in amidst many furnishings for the rest of his life, and - as if frozen in time - that is exactly how visitors can tour it today. Fixtures, furnishings, ceramics and wood carvings, almost all designed, made or collected by the artist, stand casually about the house, presenting a unique world formed by the aesthetic senses of a single artist. His works - spanning ceramics, wood carving and decorated calligraphy - are permanently exhibited, with minor rotations made with each of the four seasons, so visitors can drink in Kanjiro’s human nature through his art and his lifestyle.
Dotted nonchalantly here and there in the house are works by Soetsu Yanagi, Tasuaki Kuroda and others, which offer strong clues to Kanjiro’s connection with Japan’s craft movement.