Cipango - French Journal of JapaneseStudiesEnglish Selection
1 | 2012

The Invention of “Folk Crafts”: Yanagi Sōetsu andMingeiThe Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu
before Mingei
À la poursuite infinie des désirs intérieurs : Yanagi Sōetsu avant le Mingei
Michael Lucken

Electronic version
URL: https://journals.openedition.org/cjs/172
DOI: 10.4000/cjs.172
ISSN: 2268-1744
Publisher
INALCOElectronic referenceMichael Lucken, “The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei”, Cipango - French
Journal of Japanese Studies [Online], 1 | 2012, Online since 23 May 2013, connection on 08 July 2021.
URL: http://journals.openedition.org/cjs/172 ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/cjs.172

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International License.

The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

The Endless pursuit of inner desires:
Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei
À la poursuite infinie des désirs intérieurs : Yanagi Sōetsu avant le Mingei
Michael Lucken

EDITOR'S NOTE
Original release: Michael Lucken, « À la poursuite infinie des désirs intérieurs : Yanagi
Sōetsu avant le Mingei », Cipango [En ligne], 16 | 2009, mis en ligne le 15 novembre 2011,
DOI: 10.4000/cipango.388.
1

Viewed from Japan, the writer and critic Yanagi Sōetsu 柳宗悦 (1889-1961) appears tohave lived two lives: one spanning the 1910s, a period corresponding to his
involvement in the literary journal Shirakaba 白樺 (1910-1923), during which he took aninterest in Christian mystics and certain Western artists such as Rodin and Blake; and asecond one beginning around 1920, which saw him campaign for the culturaldevelopment of Korea and a rediscovery, or reinvention, of folk crafts (mingei 民藝).
Although these two sides to Yanagi’s work often appear contradictory, the Folk Crafts
Movement was in many respects a continuation of the extraordinary human andintellectual adventure that Shirakaba represented.

2

If the name Yanagi is known at all in France, it is solely for his role in the Folk Crafts
Movement, and this largely thanks to publications by the likes of Élisabeth Frolet andBernard Leach – including an adaptation of a text by Yanagi – which highlight this
aspect of Yanagi’s work.1 And yet no serious publication on Shirakaba exists in French
and the importance of the journal’s role is not clearly understood. 2 The exhibition The
Mingei Spirit in Japan, held at the Musée du Quai Branly in autumn 2008, reflected thislack of knowledge. By establishing a direct link between Japan’s folk crafts of the pastand contemporary furniture, without taking the time to illustrate the intellectual andartistic context of the period, the exhibition presented Yanagi’s efforts as those of an

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

aesthete devoid of history who supposedly enabled contemporary design to rediscover its
roots deep within Japanese and Far Eastern soil.
3

In this short article I hope to outline some of the issues linked to Yanagi’s views during
the 1910s, partly to highlight the driving forces at work and partly to demonstrate how
his novel conception of folk art evolved. In other words, my intention is to place the
Mingei movement back in a historical context. I will not, however, explore the links
between Mingei and other folk craft movements around the world – such as William
Morris’ Arts and Crafts Movement – and instead refer readers to the research cited infootnote3 that deals with this issue.

4This article is divided into four sections that examine two core issues in the texts
written by Yanagi during the 1910s, namely that of the individual creator and that of
the work of art. The former will illustrate how such a notion as the people,
collectiveness, “we” – which was central to the Folk Crafts Movement – resulted from a“collective” crisis in the ideal of the artistic self (le moi créateur), a driving force forwriters and artists at the time. The latter will lead us to examine the birth of the Mingei
movement as coming in the wake of an attempt to re-enchant both images and theworld.

The individual
5

Shirakaba was a monthly journal published between April 1910 and August 1923. It was
founded by a group of writers, most of whom were graduates of the Peers School(Gakushūin), the most famous – other than Yanagi – being Mushanokōji Saneatsu 武者
小路実篤 (1885-1976), Shiga Naoya 志賀直哉 (1883-1971), Kinoshita Rigen 木下利玄(1886-1925) and the Arishima brothers: Arishima Takeo 有島武郎 (1878-1923), Arishima
Ikuma 有島生馬 (1882-1974) and Satomi Ton 里見弴 (1888-1983). The term Shirakaba
movement (Shirakaba-ha 白樺派) is used as a general reference to all those involved in
the journal, or even to that entire generation.

6

Open-minded and demanding by nature, Yanagi was instrumental in developing thejournal’s influence, enlisting for example the help of brilliant figures such as thenovelist Nagayo Yoshirō 長與善郎4 or the artist and potter Bernard Leach, who
designed the front covers of many issues.5 More generally, his extensive reading ofWestern publications enabled him to influence an entire generation of writers,
intellectuals and artists from the 1910s onwards. Although Mushanokōji Saneatsu, withhis eloquence and powerful writing, maintained a prominent position in the groupuntil setting up his New Village (Atarashiki Mura) in 1918, 6 Yanagi was nonethelessShirakaba’s kingpin and critical engine.

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

Shirakaba’s New Year’s meeting. Kanda, Tokyo, 4 January 1912

Standing, from left to right: Mushanokōji Saneatsu, Koizumi Magane, Takamura Kōtarō, Kinoshita
Rigen, Ōgimachi Kinkazu, Nagayo Yoshirō, Kusaka Jin (Ōgimachi Saneyoshi).
Sitting, from left to right: Tanaka Uson, Shiga Naoya, Satomi Ton, Yanagi Sōetsu, Sonoike Kin’yuki, Aoki
Naosuke, Arishima Ikuma.

Photograph commemorating the 10-year anniversary of Shirakaba. Shiba Park, Tokyo, 5 April 1919

Standing, from left to right: Ozaki Kihachi, Satake Hiroyuki, Yawata Sekitarō, Shinjō Waichi, Tsubaki
Sadao, Bernard Leach, Koizumi Magane, Kondō Keiichi, Kinoshita Rigen, Kishida Ryūsei, Shiga Naoya,
Nagayo Yoshirō, Takamura Kōtarō.
Sitting, from left to right: Yanagi Sōetsu, Kimura Shōhachi, Mushanokōji Saneatsu, Seimiya Hitoshi,
Inukai Takeru.

Shirakaba, no. 1-1, April 1910

Cover illustration: Kojima Kikuo.

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

Shirakaba, no. 1-8, November 1910

Illustration: Minami Kunzō.

Shirakaba, no. 9-2, February 1918

Cover illustration: Bernard Leach.

Shirakaba, no. 9-7, July 1918

Illustration: Kishida Ryūsei.

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

7

Early issues of Shirakaba, published between 1910 and 1912, played a decisive role in theJapanese reception of several major Western artists who, from 1910 and Roger Fry’s
London exhibition, tended to be grouped together under the label Post-Impressionism(kōki inshō-ha 後期印象派 or kō-inshō-ha 後印象派).7 Notable examples include the issue
on Rodin in November 1910 and on Renoir and Van Gogh in March and October 1911
respectively. Yanagi wrote for and was actively involved in each of these issues.

8

However, as Kinoshita Nagahiro 木下長宏 pointed out, it was more for theirpersonalities than their work that the artists stood out.8 During this period the moving
nature of Van Gogh’s life, which his letters to his brother Theo in particular conveyed,
was a vital element in the recognition of the Dutch painter in Japan. This salient point
was made by Yanagi in an important article on Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne andMatisse, entitled “Painters of the Revolution” (Kakumei no gaka 革命の画家), publishedin January 1912. Concluding his article by examining the role of individuality in thecreative process, Yanagi writes:9
The solemn existence of the individual is a fundamental reality in which we haveunshakeable faith. A life without this individuality is a meaningless existence.
Cultivating our individuality is thus our one and only duty. Our lifetime is the time
allotted to us to perfect our individuality. Human life is none other than the endless
pursuit of our inner desires. It is only when we bring our inner desires to life that
we may learn the value of existence. Van Gogh was just such a “man who gave life”.
Only such a way of living is capable of affirming human life. And life affirmed ispure energy. It holds infinite power and authority within. To enrich our lives is to
give substance to this authority. Showing greatness and individuality sets universal
forces in motion. Superior individuals imply superior humanity.
個性の厳粛なる存在は吾等の動かし難き第一義の事実である。此自己の生命をおいて吾等が存在には何の意義もない。かくて個性の充実とは吾等に与へられたる唯一の本務である。吾等が生涯とは此個性の充全の為に賦与せられたる時間である。人生とは此内部の要求に対する無限なる追求に外ならない。吾等は此内心の要求に於て活ける時、始めて生の価値を知り得るのである。ゴオホは斯くの如くにして「活ける人」であつた。活ける生命に於てのみ人生は其存在を肯定し得るのである。然も肯定せられたる人生は力である。そこには無限の威力と権威とがある。吾等が生命の充実とは此権威の体現である。個性にして偉大なる時、そは普遍の力を齎らさねば止まない。偉大なる個性の価値は引いて偉大なる人類の価値である。

9This emphasis on the “individual” (kosei 個性) or the “self” (jiko 自己) as thefundamental principle of creation is characteristic of Yanagi’s early texts. It was fuelled
by many sources, in particular Nietzsche, whose seminal text Thus Spoke Zarathoustra
had recently been made available to the Japanese public through a translation by Ikuta
Chōkō 生田長江.10 The same emphasis is evident in Mushanokōji’s writings in thearticles he wrote for Shirakaba’s opinion column, “Miscellaneous Notes” (Rokugō zakkan
六号雑感), and in the work of the painter Kishida Ryūsei 岸田劉生 (1891-1929), who
was closely tied with the journal.11

10

In an article published in the Yomiuri Shinbun in late 1912 during an exhibition by the
Fusain Society,12 Kishida writes:13
In truth, no one can understand me; no one can help me better than I can. It isdifficult to take a cold hard look at oneself. However, the emptiness of a life lived
without doing so is unbearable. For me, the only way I can attempt to grow isthrough painting, and so I gaze deeply at my work. I gaze so deeply that I pierce ahole. My paintings coldly reveal me as I am, shattering all my illusions about

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

myself. I expose my reality as it is; I observe it attentively, but the sad reality does
not bring the kind of enlightenment that puts a smile on the face every day.
実際、自己を一番よく理解し、一番よく自分に力をそへる者は自分自身を措いて外に無い。自分は自分自身を、冷かに見つめる事を苦痛に思ふ。しかし、自分自身の事を考えずに暮す空虚には堪へられない。自分が成長しようとするのはどうしても絵を描く事である。そして、それをぢつと見つめる事である。穴のあく程見つめる事である。自分の絵は、自分が自分に対する一切の幻を打ち破つて冷かなありのままの自分を曝露して居る。自分は、自分の現実を只ありのままに曝露して、それをまざまざと打ち眺めてその悲哀に日々笑む程に悟りは開いて居ない。
11

There is no fundamental divergence between this statement and the views of Yanagi.
Even the language used is similar, in particular the characteristic sentence rhythm
common to writers of this generation. This emphasis on the creative power of the“individual” was shared by an entire group of young men who were searching for a way
to express it through writing or painting.

12

By two years later Yanagi’s interest in Van Gogh and Rodin had waned somewhat, while
his main focus had shifted to William Blake, the English artist and poet from the lateeighteenth to the early nineteenth century. Though Blake’s work is clearly very
different to that of Van Gogh or Renoir, the formal elements of art were of little
interest to Yanagi, who was above all fascinated by the attitude of the English engraver
and the way he presented himself to the world:14[Blake] hated constraints and censorship. He longed for his country to be a world of
freedom and creation. He was convinced that the inner desires of man possessed an
infinite power. He advocated the infinite emanation of man through a rebellion
against oppression. His great desire for self-realisation was an ideal he retained
throughout his entire lifetime. In the name of life he courageously broke all theestablished rules. Freedom and emancipation are the only gates of grace throughwhich life’s travellers must pass.
彼の嫌悪したのは束縛であり禁制だつた。彼の憧憬した国士は自由と創造との世界だつた。彼は人間内性の欲望が無限の力を宿す事を信じてゐた。彼は抑圧に対する強烈なによつて人生の無限なを讃えてゐる。自己実現に対する偉大な抱負は彼が生涯失はなかつた理想である。彼は之を制定するあらゆる法則を生命の名によつて勇ましくも破壊した。自由と解放とは人生の旅人が通過すべき唯一の祝福ある金門だつた。

13

Yanagi has barely changed his views on individual genius. However, a comparison withhis texts from 1910-1912 indicates that he had acquired an increasingly mystical viewof the individual. What he discerned in the great artists – and Blake in particular – wasthe singular mirroring the whole. As he explained to Bernard Leach in a letter written
in English and dated 8 November 1915:15
As you already know, I am deeply interested in Christian mysticism, partly from my
own nature, partly from studying Blake. I have long struggled with the problem ofdualism, battling against life’s divisions – body and soul, Heaven and Hell, God andman, etc. How to escape them, how to free ourselves from them – how to unite ororganise these dualisms – has been my constant concern. The first time I
encountered Blake’s thinking, the result of which is expressed in my laborious andjoyous study of this strange and great genius, a new life began.

14

Nonetheless, the originality of this “new life” is questionable, for it was at this precise
time that Mushanokōji and Kishida Ryūsei made a similar about-turn. Another example
that comes to mind is that of Kurata Hyakuzō 倉田百三, who in 1916 published Shukke
to sono deshi 出家とその弟子 (The Priest and his Disciples), a hugely successful play about
the priest Shinran 親鸞.16 While Yanagi’s intellectual and spiritual journey was

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

undoubtedly aided by his reading of Blake and Christian thinkers, as well as his
discovery of Zen, there was a consistency in the paths followed by Shirakaba members– a closely knit group at its beginnings – that tended to transform their characteristic
search for the absolute into a social phenomenon.

The substance at work
15

Jean-Jacques Origas used to say of Yanagi that he lived “in permanent contact with the‘earth’”.17 The Folk Crafts Movement, with its emphasis on local crafts, is the best
known expression of this interest. His deep attachment to Pure Land Buddhism (Jōdo
Shinshū), particularly in the latter half of his life, can also be interpreted symbolicallyfrom this angle. However, signs of this attachment were already visible in his youth in
the 1910s.

16

Yanagi’s passion for earth and land initially manifested itself through his love of
ceramics, an art form that uses clay to create objects in a variety of shapes and for avariety of purposes. Particularly since the objects of which Yanagi was so fond wererelatively plain, with the substance from which they were crafted discernible to the eyeor the touch. In fact, Yanagi forged ties with potters well before the Folk Crafts
Movement was launched, notably with Tomimoto Kenkichi 富本憲吉, who he met in
1912. Whilst living at Abiko 我孫子 he also closely followed Leach’s progress in thisfield, even helping him to build a kiln in his garden. Finally, he put together a smallcollection of Chinese ceramics in the 1910s, before expanding it in the 1920s to include
Korean pottery from the Yi Dynasty and then any folk wares. In moving to thecountryside in 1914, closely following the work of potters and beginning to collectceramics, Yanagi was clearly drawn to the figure of the artist as demiurge.

17

It is widely known that one of the images that most fascinated Japanese artists in the
1910s was the biblical image of God creating the world and man. In Yanagi’s case, thiswas particularly visible in his fascination with William Blake, in whose work this themeis omnipresent. In fact, in a monograph on the English artist published in 1914, Yanagi
begins with a reference to one of Blake’s most famous pieces, The Ancient of Days (1797),
which is reproduced in the text. It depicts Urizen – Blake’s Yahweh – tracing the firstcircle of the Earth:18
The elderly god sits hunched up in the centre of the sun, contemplating the blue
sky below. His outstretched left hand is open like a compass, tracing the outline of
the Earth. God is preparing to create the beginnings of the Earth from the empty
chaos below.
年老いた神が太陽の中央に座つて身を屈め乍ら遠く碧空を下に見おろしてゐる。彼は今左手を長く延べてコムパスの度を拡げ、地球の圏囲を定めてゐる。
神は渾沌の虚空から太初の地を造らうとするのである。

18

The biblical theme of the creation myth (or its variants, like the one invented by Blake)
is a subject common to many of Yanagi’s contemporaries. In 1914, the year Blake waspublished, Kishida Ryūsei created a series of etchings in which Adam can be seen biting
into the earth. Although not obviously connected to the Bible, one could also cite theexample of several poems written by Takamura Kōtarō 高村光太郎 in The Journey (Dōtei
道程, 1914), in which the theme of earth in all its forms is used as a metaphor for thecreative awakening. More subversive in style is “Devil’s Tongue” (Akuma no Shita 悪魔の舌), a short novel by Murayama Kaita 村山槐多, once again from the period

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

1914-1915, in which the protagonist, a poet by the name of Kaneko, tells the story of hislong downfall from the moment he began eating earth to the day he devoured the bodyof his own brother, who he had killed without recognizing. 19
19

In phenomenological terms, promoting the use of earth and enjoying how it feels to thetouch is to affirm the importance of that which is malleable, viscous and indefinable, incontrast to that which is hard, formal and closed. In other words, it means rejecting the
primacy of abstract representation, scientific truth and the reproducible experiment.
However, Yanagi’s reasoning at the beginning of the Taishō era was that only geniuses,
only superior human beings, were capable of bringing raw matter to life rather thanbeing engulfed by it. This explains his interest in Blake, Rodin, Van Gogh or even
Cézanne.

20

Earth is nevertheless a dangerous element because it carries not only the promise ofcreation but also a reminder of death. It represents both man’s origins and his future.
Any artist confronting it head on is caused to oscillate between the feeling of powerthat comes with dominating it and the impression that it is impossible to escape.
Yanagi was obviously aware of this, as was Blake before him. Seen from thisperspective, Yanagi’s call as of 1925-1926 to transcend the desire to create art byabandoning oneself to the act itself and to practising one’s technique automatically,
without thought, in some ways stems from a surrender on his behalf. It was not somuch Yanagi who “discovered” folk art and earth’s heuristic, anonymous power, butrather earth that exerted its power over those who believed themselves capable ofdominating it. The path leading to the Mingei movement more closely resembled thatof a defeat than a positive revelation.

Re-enchanted images
21

It is astonishing how little is known about Yanagi’s academic career. In the spring of
1919 he was appointed professor in the philosophy department at Tōyō Daigaku 東洋大学, a private university in Tokyo whose founder and figurehead was none other thanInoue Enryō 井上円了 (1858-1919). With Inoue having died in Manchuria in June of thatyear, the two men were unable to become closely acquainted; however, it is certain that
Inoue played a decisive role in Yanagi’s appointment20. In some ways one was theother’s successor.

22

That these two figures should come together in this way is intriguing. Inoue Enryō isknown for his decades spent attempting to explain the true nature of supernatural
phenomena and other sources of popular confusion. A savant, devout Buddhist andfirm believer in the national cause, he channelled all his energy into exploiting thevirtues of a positive and illuminating science.21 Certain aspects of Yanagi’s activities canbe seen as a continuation of Inoue’s. Both had an immense capacity for work, the ability
to digest modern knowledge and a desire to speak to the people. However, Yanagi’s
fascination with objects and images clearly sets the two men apart. While Inoueappealed to artists to use their talents to serve reality and truth, Yanagi’s approach toimages was always close to magical in nature.

23

Take the example of Yanagi’s March 1911 article on Renoir, in which he described theworks of the Cagnes-sur-Mer master in detail. Contrary to expectations, whilebiographical details are scant, Yanagi provides extensive and precise descriptions of

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

Renoir’s paintings. He describes Lise (1867) and The Dancer (known as Maihime inJapanese), an 1874 painting not reproduced in the text, in the following terms: 22
In this painting, The Dancer, the same pale white colour that enveloped Lise once
again emphasises the contours and highlights the body of the young girl. The layersof her pale blue tutu merge almost entirely into the background; the hazy outline ofher figure, her brown hair and her pink slippers look like so many tiny colourful
touches; an indescribable effect emanates from this painting, whose overall
impression is that of an abundance of rich colours […]此「舞姫」の画では、かの“Lise”を包んだ淡い白色は更に形を納めて若い女の肉体を強めて居る、浅藍色の沙の裾は殆ど背後に溶け込む様で、朧ろげな外廓
や褐色の髪や桃色の靴等は只一筆の色に触れたゞけであるが、其全体の印象は
色彩の豊富を以て満ちて居る、
24

Further on in the text, whilst comparing Renoir and Degas, Yanagi writes of: 23
The pale crimsons, like those of ripe peaches, the reds, as deep as burst tomatoes,
the jade blue shining in the southern sun, all these colours that he places before oureyes and in which he excels […]彼は勝ち誇れる色彩を目のあたりに示した、熟せる桃の如き薄紅、裂けたるト
マトーの如き深い赤、南の空の光れる碧（後略）25When we recall Yanagi’s tastes as they later manifested themselves in the Mingei
movement, it is hard not to be surprised by the sensuality and lyricism expressed here.
Using a precise yet rich language, Yanagi attempts to define paintings that constantly
resist description. One painting remains “full of mystery” (fushigi ni michita), while
another “brings to mind a fairy-tale village” (yōsei no sato o omowaseru). 24 We are far
from the kantian Buddhism of Inoue.

26

This is even more evident in “The New Science” (Atarashiki Kagaku), a 1910 article inwhich Yanagi presents an account of various apparitions, haunted houses and otherstrange events taken from Western scientific sources.25 Whereas Inoue, in the face ofsuch phenomena, countered appearances with truth, Yanagi saw science and the arts as
a new means of revealing “the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty,
to which every part and particle is equally related”.26 For him, the truth was contained
within appearances themselves.

27

Yanagi illustrated his text with reproductions of several photos of “ghosts” taken using
a special technique, or into which ghosts had slipped without the photographer’s
knowledge. He concludes that:27
If we consider these facts to be true, we must accept that we perceive things
invisible to the naked eye through the sensitivity of photography, and that it is also
possible that there are many spirits roaming the ether.
若しかゝる事実を真なりとすれば、吾人が肉眼によつて認識し能はざるものが鋭敏なる写真に感じるのである、更に推測すれば此大気中には、幾多の精霊が彷徨へると見る可きである。

28

Although Yanagi applied a rigorous and methodical approach to studying these
phenomena, one senses that he was extremely open to the idea that, beyond the limitsof human sight, the world was bubbling with mysterious and interacting forces; that
objects were pulsing with life for anyone possessing the technical, intellectual andspiritual means to perceive it.

29

At the beginning of the 1910s Yanagi had yet to leave Japan’s shores. Given that at thetime no public collection of modern art existed in Japan, the only means for Yanagi tolearn about Western artwork was through books and series of postcards imported fromoverseas. In other words, through photographic reproductions; the same type of

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

objects that enabled him to recognise the existence of ghosts. In most cases these
reproductions consisted of black and white prints, even in the case of Western books
such as the famous series published by Piper & Co, Munich, on Cézanne (1910), Renoir(1911) and Van Gogh (1911), which contain not a single colour illustration. As one of themost avid collectors of pictures and illustrated albums in Japan at the time, many
contemporary artists and writers, such as Kishida Ryūsei, Kimura Shōhachi 木村荘八 28
and Mushanokōji Saneatsu,29 would gather at Yanagi’s home to admire them.
30

This observation serves to underline a well-known phenomenon, namely that
reproductions played a decisive role in Japan’s modern art adventure. Kinoshita
Nagahiro was one of the first to analyse this phenomenon: 30
Those who had only seen the reproductions remained intellectually active, whilstthose who had seen the original works retreated into a gloomy silence that
excluded all reflection. (Thus we cannot consider the experience of seeing theoriginal works as superior.)
複製しか見ない者は理屈が多くなり、本物を見た者はそこに理屈にならない貴重な経験を抱えて寡黙になるといい切ってしまう【ということは、本物を経験していることの優位性を認める】わけにはいかない。

31

The incomplete nature of the reproduction stimulated the imagination and creativityof those artists who remained in Japan; while in contrast, the sudden discovery of theoriginals impoverished the perspective of those who had travelled to Europe. In recent
times Tsuchida Maki 土田眞紀 has continued the work of Kinoshita. In an article on
Yanagi and Shirakaba members, Tsuchida describes the enthusiasm that gripped themin the face of Western artworks, leading her to the following conclusion: 31
If we compare their attitude to reproductions with their attitude to the “originals”
by Rodin,32 it would seem that the difference was merely one of degree rather thanof nature. […] It is possible to consider that [for Shirakaba members], thereproductions were mores than mere substitutes for the originals; they possessed akind of “exactness”, the experience of which was clearly, for the person in question,“here and now” and unique in nature.
複製図版に対する彼らの反応は、ロダンの〈本物〉への反応と、程度の差はあれ、質的にはほとんど変わりなかったのではないだろうか。(中略) その意味で複製図版は〈本物〉の代用品以上のものであり、彼らにとってはある「真正さ」さえ帯びており、その経験する側にとっては紛れもなく〈いまーここ〉
的、一回的な経験であり得たように思われる。

32

With their delocalised nature, strange materiality and the expectations they created,
reproductions appear to have increased the perception of many modern Japaneseartists of the image as a radiant power.

33

However, this heightened sensibility was far from limited to photographic
reproductions. In Yanagi’s eyes, all objects could have an enchanted nature that went
beyond the boundaries of their function or meaning. This is an important point to bearin mind when considering Yanagi’s work on folk crafts. It is impossible to understandhis relationship with everyday objects, such as the Korean pottery of the Yi Dynasty,
outside of this perspective.

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

Individual discovery of the “we” or collective crisis of
the “I”?
34

Yanagi’s discourse and priorities in matters of taste changed dramatically around 1920.
In 1916 he discovered Korean art during a trip to the Korean peninsula. Three years
later, in July 1919, he published some reproductions of Japanese Buddhist art inShirakaba, a first for the journal. In February 1920 he then went on to write his firstarticle on Korean sculpture, accompanying it with several illustrations. This is
generally considered to be a turning point for Yanagi, marking the emergence of his
folk craft theory.

35

During his trip to Korea, Yanagi was deeply affected by the conditions of those living
under Japanese rule. In a 1920 article entitled “Letter to my Korean Friends” (Chōsen no
tomo ni okuru sho 朝鮮の友に贈る書), he wrote:33
At this moment I hope with all my heart that the day will come when the abnormal
relations between our two countries will be set right. Korea, which is really Japan’ssibling, must not become its slave. More than just a dishonour to Korea, it is anabsolute disgrace to Japan.
私は今、二つの国にある不自然な関係が正される日の来ることを、切に希っている。まさに日本にとっての兄弟である朝鮮は、日本の奴隷であってはならぬ。それは朝鮮の不名誉であるよりも、日本にとっての恥辱の恥辱である。

36

From this point onwards Yanagi had a clear tendency to consider art from a nationaland collective perspective rather than an individual one. He ceased publishingmonographs as he had done previously for Blake, Renoir and Rodin, and instead
focused on periods, genres and styles, with titles including “Sung Dynasty Art”, “YiDynasty Art”, “Korean Ceramics” and “Japanese Art”. The emergence of his folk craft
theory was part of this new conceptual framework promoting collective works andgeneral concepts.

37This new direction gradually led Yanagi to dismiss the value of individual creation, as
demonstrated in Beauty and Crafts (Bi to Kōgei), which can be considered the first text tocomprehensively set out the aims of the Mingei movement:34
Why is beauty so much more apparent in “ordinary objects” than in “sophisticatedobjects”? First and foremost because of a difference in frame of mind at the time ofcreation. Because the lack of intent of the former – compared to the ambition of thelatter – is in a purer land. Because detachment implies something much deeper
than consciousness. Because self-effacement is a more solid foundation than selfcontrol. Because anonymity provides a calmer environment than signing [one’s
work]. Because necessity is a better guarantee of beauty than the intentional act.
なぜ「上手物」より却て「下手物」にかくも豊かな美が現れてくるか。それは一つに作る折の心の状態の差異によると云はねばなりません。前者の有想よりも後者の無想が、より清い境地にあるからです。意識よりも無心の方が、更に深いものを含むからです。主我の念よりも忘我の方が、より深い基礎となるからです。在銘よりも無銘の方が、より安らかな環境にあるからです。作為よりも必然が、一層厚く美を保証するからです。

38

While in texts from the 1910s the individual was a core element and nothing seemed
possible without the artist’s subjectivity, from the 1920s onwards subjectivity was
rejected, with the genuine artist becoming someone who, in the creative act,
abandoned his desire to create art. This change in the space of a few years has thevirtue of clearly underlining the historicity of Yanagi’s Buddhistic discourse which
aimed, as in the previous quote, to promote the artist’s detachment from his work

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

through mechanically performed gestures and an absence of desire to leave a personal
trace.
39

A similar conclusion is reached if we observe the evolution in Yanagi’s style of writing.
During the 1910s he used a precise and powerful language that was also extremely
dynamic. In contrast, from the beginning of the Shōwa era he adopted a simple,
repetitive and dogmatic style. Whereas previously he had been capable of waxing
lyrical about works of art, as we saw in his article on Renoir, his language now tended
to be dry and impersonal. Many of his texts from the 1930s to 1950s are nothing morethan a succession of predictable, easy-to-remember phrases framed in a clumsy
questions and answers pattern. He ceased to address his peers as he had done during
his Shirakaba days, focusing instead on an anonymous, ordinary “people”.

40

Nonetheless, Yanagi was not alone in attempting to get back in touch with the people.
In many ways he was merely reacting to the new state of affairs within his intellectual
circle. Having spent eight or nine years asserting the strength of their creative self, andat a time when the world was coming to terms with the Russian Revolution and the endof the First World War, Shirakaba members now shifted tactics and set about
rethinking the individual in relation to a cultural, social or national collective. This was
the case for Mushanokōji and Kurata, who in 1918 embarked on an agrarian adventure
by setting up their New Village; for Arishima Takeo, who formed ties with socialist
movements and in 1921 was involved in the launch of the journal Tanemaku Hito 種蒔く人 (The Sowers);35 for Abe Jirō 阿部次郎 and Watsuji Tetsurō 和辻哲郎, who proposed a
rediscovery of Japan’s literary and architectural heritage;36 and for Kishida Ryūsei andKimura Shōhachi, who began to collect and study folk art from the Edo period. Yanagi’s
creation of the Folk Crafts Movement can thus be seen as an adaptation of a moregeneral movement among the intellectuals and artists of his generation. The change
seen in his views and style was in many ways a series of shifts in reference point, an
updating of his discourse, partly in reaction to major historical developments, andpartly to the combustion of his own research materials.

41

However, although Yanagi was drawn to the people and collective ideals, he had nodesire to imitate Mushanokōji by returning to the land and the village community. Nor
did he possess the gloomy lucidity of Arishima Takeo who, a few months prior tocommitting suicide, wrote a kind of will-manifesto:37
One can be a great scholar, a thinker, an activist or a leader, but if one is notproletarian it is clearly absurd to want to help the proletariat in any way. The
proletariat can only be disturbed by the vain efforts of such people.
どんな偉い学者であれ、思想家であれ、運動家であれ、頭領であれ、第四階級な労働者たることなしに、第四階級に何者をか寄与すると思つたら、それは明らかに僭上沙汰である。第四階級はその人たちのむだな努力によつてかき乱されるのほかはあるまい.

42

While continuing to champion folk crafts and the genius of those who anonymously
and spontaneously created everyday objects, Yanagi retained his position as an
influential intellectual and wealthy collector. Compared to the failure of Mushanokōji,
who left his New Village in 1926 to give his daughters a good education, and the tragic
demise of Arishima, who ended his days in the company of his mistress at Karuizawa on
June 9 1923, Yanagi’s attitude at least had a certain consistency. Nonetheless, thematerial and moral comfort of his journey has a cumbersomeness that is reflected in
his style like the revenge of history.

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

Conclusion
43

Despite what emerged through the Musée du Quai Branly exhibition, there is no
continuity between Japan’s folk crafts of the past and contemporary design. The “we”
that is seemingly shared by both the ceramics and textiles of the Edo period collectedby Yanagi, and the work of his son, Yanagi Sōri 柳宗理 (1915-), is not of the same order.
The “we” of the Folk Crafts Movement stems from a crisis; it was reconstructed after
the “I” had been exhausted and under the influence of historical events overseas. The
Mingei movement is not the link binding the depths of Japanese culture – its
mysterious and magical dimension – to its modern and efficient side. To put it anotherway, the movement founded by Yanagi at the end of the 1920s was in many ways simply
one of many offshoots of the Shirakaba group. Japanese historiography was under noillusions about this, with Shirakaba enjoying a far greater presence in Japan’s national
museums and history textbooks than Mingei crafts.

44

If the aim had been to move away from a heroic and exotic account of Yanagi’s
activities, a logical starting point would have been to present a critical examination of
the many elements enabling us to situate these activities over time, something which
the Musée du Quai Branly exhibition failed to do. While some Japanese art events may
have favoured a formal and decontextualized presentation in order to appeal to andwin over a new public, this approach is often simply attributable to a desire for easeand a form of laziness. We would have appreciated the exhibits all the more had webeen able to understand and feel – beyond the fact that Yanagi is the link uniting
them – all that they possess in terms of magic and enchantment, of cracks andrenunciation.

NOTES
1. Élisabeth Frolet, Yanagi Sōetsu ou les éléments d’une renaissance artistique japonaise (Yanagi Sōetsu:
Elements of an Artistic Revival in Japan), Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 1986; Yanagi Sōetsu
(adapted by Bernard Leach), Artisan et inconnu (published in English as The Unknown Craftsman),Paris, L’Asiathèque, 1992. For English texts see, among others, Bernard Leach, A Potter in Japan
1952-1954, London, Faber & Faber, 1960.
2. Short accounts of Shirakaba and its role in art history can be found in: Asano Tōru, « La
peinture à l’époque Taishō » (Taishō-Period Painting), in Japon des avant-gardes (Japan and theAvant-garde), Paris, Éditions du Centre Pompidou, 1986, p. 51-52; Michael Lucken, L’Art du Japon
au vingtième siècle (Japanese Art in the Twentieth Century), Paris, Hermann, 2001, p. 45-48. For
recent Japanese work, see the catalogue for the exhibition Shirakaba-ha no ai shita bijutsu, edited
by Furutani Yoshiyuki, Osaka, Yomiuri Shinbun, 2009.
3. Yuko Kikuchi, “The Myth of Yanagi’s Originality: The Formation of Mingei Theory and its Socialand Historical Context”, Journal of Design History, no. 7, Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 247-266;
Yuko Kikuchi, A Japanese William Morris: Yanagi Sōetsu and Mingei Theory, Journal of William
Morris Studies, no. 12-2, 1997, pp. 39-45.

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

4. Nagayo Yoshirō (1888-1961), a writer, playwright and childhood friend of Yanagi, joined
Shirakaba in 1911.
5. Bernard Leach (1887-1979), who lived in Japan between 1909 and 1920, designed the front
covers of Shirakaba throughout 1913 and sporadically between 1917 and 1918.
6. This was founded by Mushanokōji Saneatsu in 1918, in a bend in the River Omaru at Hinata(Kijō, Koyu-gun), Miyazaki Prefecture, in south-east Kyūshū. The village was run in an egalitarianmanner by its members. Mushanokōji lived in the village until 1926, after which he moved toNara. A small community still exists at the original site.
7. The exhibition Manet and the Post-Impressionists was organised by Roger Fry (1866-1934) in
London at the Grafton Galleries in November 1910. It revealed the works of Cézanne, Van Gogh,
Gauguin and even Matisse to Japan and the English-speaking world. The term PostImpressionism is often attributed to Fry.
8. Kinoshita Nagahiro, Shisō-shi toshite no gohho. Fukusei juyō to sōzōryoku, Tokyo, Gakugei Shorin,
1992, p. 53 et seq.
9. Yanagi Sōetsu, “Kakumei no gaka”, Shirakaba, vol. 3-1, January 1912; Yanagi Sōetsu zenshū(hereafter YSZ), vol. 1, pp. 563-564.
10. Translation published as Tsaratusutora ツァラトゥストラ (Tokyo, Shinchōsha, January 1911).
Ikuta Chōkō (1882-1936), a writer and translator specialising in Nietzsche, was close to the
Shirakaba Movement and published several articles in the journal.
11. On the subject of Kishida Ryūsei (1891-1929), see Michael Lucken, L’Art du Japon au vingtième
siècle (Japanese Art in the Twentieth Century), Paris, Hermann, 2001, p. 59-78, and « Une
esthétique de la réplication ou comment les fantômes sont à l’œuvre. La peinture de Kishida
Ryūsei » (An Aesthetic of Replication or How Ghosts are at Work. The Paintings of Kishida
Ryūsei), Arts Asiatiques, vol. 64, Musée Guimet / EFEO, 2009, p. 79-94.
12. The Fusain Society (Hyūzan-kai ヒューザン会, later Fyūzan-kai) consisted of fifteen or so
artists – mainly Western-style painters – including Saitō Yori, Yorozu Tetsugorō and Kishida
Ryūsei. In October-November 1912 and March 1913 it held two exhibitions that were milestonesin the history of expressionism and more generally of avant-garde artists in Japan.
13. Kishida Ryūsei, “Jiko no geijutsu”, Yomiuri Shinbun, 17 October 1912, p. 5; Kishida Ryūsei zenshū,vol. 1, pp. 39-40.
14. Yanagi Sōetsu, Wiriamu Burēku, Tokyo, Rakuyōdō, 1914; YSZ, vol. 4, p. 19.
15. In Bernard Leach, Beyond East and West: Memoirs, Portraits and Essays, London, Faber & Faber,1978 (1985), pp. 79-80.
16. Kurata Hyakuzō (1891-1943), an author and playwright in the Shirakaba movement. His play
Shukke to sono deshi was serialised in 1916 before being published in volumes by Iwanami (1917).
Translated into English as early as 1922, it caught the attention of Romain Rolland, who wrote thepreface for the French translation (Le prêtre et ses disciples, Kuni Matsuo and Émile SteinilberOberlin, Paris, Rieder, 1932).
17. Jean-Jacques Origas, « Yanagi Sōetsu : les mots, les images et la terre » (Yanagi Sōetsu: Words,
Images and Earth), in La Lampe d’Akutagawa. Essais sur la littérature japonaise modern (Akutagawa’s
Lamp. Essays on Modern Japanese Literature), Paris, Les Belles Lettres, « Japon’ collection », 2008,
p. 326.
18. Yanagi Sōetsu, Wiriamu Burēku, op. cit., YSZ, vol. 4, p. 15.
19. Cf. Takamura Kōtarō , Takamura Kōtarō shishū, Tokyo, Shinchōsha, 1950 (1990); Muyarama
Kaita, Muyarama Kaita zenshū, Tokyo, Yayoi Shobō, 1997.
20. In fact, Yanagi was the nephew by marriage of Kanō Jigorō 嘉納治五郎, the founder of jūdo
and a close acquaintance of Inoue Enryō.
21. Cf. Inoue Enryō senshū, vol. 25, Tokyo, Tōyō Daigaku, 1987-2004. For an English text on Inoue
Enryō see: Gerald Figal, Civilization and Monsters: Spirits of Modernity in Meiji Japan,
Durham / London, Duke University Press, 1999, passim.

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

22. Yanagi Sōetsu, ‘Runoā to sono ippa’, Shirakaba, vol. 2-3, Tokyo, March 1911, p. 3; YSZ, vol. 1,
p. 493.
23. Ibid., p. 5; YSZ, vol. 1, pp. 495-496.
24. Ibid., p. 6; YSZ, vol. 1, pp. 496-497.
25. Yanagi draws in particular on Cesare Lombroso, After Death – What?, Boston, Small, Maynard &Co, 1909; Oliver Lodge, The Survival of Man, London, Methuen, 1909; Camille Flammarion, Les Forces
naturelles inconnues (Unknown Natural Forces), Paris, Flammarion, 1907 (Yanagi used the English
translation). Note that these latter two books also appeared in Sōseki’s library during the same
period, which illustrates their impact in Japan.
26. Here Yanagi cites a passage by Emerson, included as an epigraph to his article. Cf. Yanagi
Sōetsu, “Atarashiki kagaku”, Shirakaba, vol. 1-7, Tokyo, October 1910, pp. 16-18; YSZ, vol. 1, p. 35.
27. Ibid., p. 18; YSZ, vol. 1, p. 46.
28. Kimura Shōhachi (1893-1958), Western-style painter. Member of the Sōdosha group (Grassand Earth Society) and friend of Kishida Ryūsei, he worked extensively as a critic and publishedseveral texts in Shirakaba. Just like Kishida Ryūsei, he took an interest in ukiyo-e and Kabuki from1920 onwards.
29. Cf. “Omoide oyobi Kondo no Tenrankai ni sai shite”, Kishida Ryūsei zenshū, vol. 2, Tokyo,
Iwanami Shoten, 1979, p. 235; Kimura Shōhachi nikki, Nikkō, Kosugi Hōan Kinen Nikkō Bijutsukan,
2003, p. 190.
30. Kinoshita Nagahiro, Shisō-shi toshite no gohho, op. cit., p. 51.
31. Tsuchida Maki, “Yanagi Sōetsu to ‘kindai bijutsushi’: ‘miru’ to iu jissen”, in Taishō-ki bijutsu
tenrankai no kenkyū, Tokyo, Tokyo Bunkazai Kenkyūjo, 2005, p. 565 and p. 567. Since the author
takes direct inspiration from Benjamin, the French translation (on which this English translation
is based) makes use of Benjamin’s own vocabulary.
32. This is a reference to three sculptures sent by Rodin to Shirakaba members in late 1911 in
thanks for a set of ukiyo-e prints that they had sent him a few months earlier. See, among others,
François Blanchetière, « Don et contre-don: Rodin et le groupe Shirakaba » (Gift and Counter-gift:
Rodin and the Shirakaba Group), in Rodin. Le rêve japonais (Rodin. The Japanese Dream), Paris,
Musée Rodin / Flammarion, 2007, p. 195-219.
33. This text first published in the journal Kaizō was later republished by Yanagi, in 1922, in his
book Chōsen to sono geijutsu (Korea and its Art), Tokyo, Sōbunkaku; Yanagi Sōetsu, Mingei yonjūnen, Tokyo, Iwanami Shoten, Iwanami Bunko collection, 1984, p. 26.
34. Yanagi Sōetsu, Bi to kōgei, Tokyo, Kensetsusha, 1934; YSZ, vol. 8, p. 296. This text was firstpublished in June 1928 in the journal Bungei Shunjū and was entitled ‘Nani o getemono kara
manabiuru ka’.
35. On the subject of Tanemaku Hito see Jean-Jacques Tschudin, Les Semeurs – Tanemaku hito: lapremière revue de littérature prolétarienne japonaise, (The Sowers – Tanemake Hito; Japan’s First
Proletarian Literary Journal) Paris, L’Asiathèque, 1979.
36. Abe Jirō (1883-1959) and Watsuji Tetsurō (1889-1960), philosophers. During the Taishō era
they channelled a considerable amount of energy into studying aesthetic issues. Both men, and inparticular Abe, were closely linked to the Shirakaba movement. In 1920 they helped establish,
among others, A Society for the Study of [the poet] Bashō (Bashō Kenkyūkai).
37. Arishima Takeo, “Sengen hitotsu”, Kaizō, January 1922; Arishima Takeo zenshū, vol. 9, Tokyo,
Chikuma Shobō, 1981, p. 3.

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The Endless pursuit of inner desires: Yanagi Sōetsu before Mingei

ABSTRACTS
During the 1910s, Yanagi Sōetsu was involved in developing the Shirakaba review. Several years
before the birth of mingei, he was interested in 2 themes: the creator and the artwork.
Durant les années 1910, Yanagi Sōetsu s'investit dans la revue Shirakaba. Bien avant le mingei,
deux questions sous-tendent son travail : l'individu créateur et l'œuvre d'art.

INDEX
キーワード: geijutsu 芸術, geijutsu sakuhin 芸術作品, bungei zasshi 文芸雑誌, Shirakaba 白樺,
Yanagi Sōetsu 柳宗悦 (1889-1961), bijutsushi 美術史, bungaku 文学, Taishō jidai 大正時代
(1912-1926), Shōwa jidai 昭和時代 (1926-1989)
Subjects: histoire de l'art, littérature
Chronological index: Shōwa
Mots-clés: création artistique, œuvre d'art, Shirakaba, revues littéraires, Yanagi Sōetsu
(1889-1961)
Keywords: artistic creation, literature – periodicals, Shirakaba, Yanagi Sōetsu (1889-1961),
literature

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