A Brief Biography

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Hours 10:00am─4:30pm

entrance closes at 4:00pm
Closed on Sundays, holidays, during exhibition installations,and the New Year holiday period.
For information, please contact the museum oﬃce.

Museum Entrance

Admission

Adults 300yen（200）
University Students 200yen（100）( )applies to groups of 20 or more.

1895

Born in Shizuoka City, second son of the draper Oishi
Kaku
jiro.

1916

Graduates from Tokyo Higher Technical School andreturns to the family home in Shizuoka.

1917

In February, marries Serizawa Tayo, also from ShizuokaCity. Takes employment with Shizuoka PrefecturalIndustrial Research Institute.
Resigns from his post and returns home. Sets up theKonohana-kai, a group of young local women who use
his designs for a range of craft items.

Lobby

Access

1922

JR Senzan Line

1927

Take the local train to Tohoku Fukushidai-mae Station.
The museum is about 10 minutes walk from the station.
Museum Shop

Sendai City Bus
Sendai Station West Exit Bus Terminal :Bus#9(loop line via Kitayama and Shiheimachi) or (loop line via
Shiheimachi and Kitayama) to Tohoku Fukushidai-mae.
The journey time is about 25 minutes.

1928

Designs and manages the Federation of Shizuoka
Prefecture Tea Cooperatives display at the National
Industrial Exposition held in Ueno Park, Tokyo, to markthe enthronement ceremony of emperor Hirohito. Struckby a display of Okinawan bingata (stenciled) textiles inthe exposition’s Japanese Craft Pavilion.

1929

His first textile, a wax-resist-dyed linen wall hanging witha blue ground and a design of Chinese cabbages, isshown at the Kokugakai exhibition and wins him ascholarship prize.

TaxiCafé

About a 20 minute ride from Sendai Station.

TOHOKU FUKUSHI UNIVERSITYSERIZAWA KEISUKE ART AND CRAFT MUSEUM
Kitayama Sta.

Kitayama
tunnel●Tohoku Univ.
Hospital

Jozenji-dori●Miyagi Museumof Art

Hirose-doriKita-Yobancho Sta.
●Miyagi
Prefectural Office
Kotodai Koen Sta.

JRHirose-Dori Sta.

uokTohSendai Sta.

SERIZAWA KEISUKE ART AND CRAFT MUSEUM
1-8-1 Kunimi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 981-8522
Tel.022-717-3318 Fax.022-717-3324
http://www.tfu.ac.jp/kogeikan/

1955

Establishes the Serizawa Paper-dyeing Research Instituteas a limited company.

1956

Appointed Holder of an Important Intangible Cultural
Property or “Living National Treasure.” Builds a newworkshop.

1957

Moves a traditional clapboard storehouse from Ishikoshi,Miyagi Prefecture, to Kamata.

1963

The Print and Textile Gallery at the Ohara Museum iscompleted, showing work by Munakata Shiko andSerizawa.

1966

Visits the Cataluna Museum in Barcelona and travels toEgypt, Turkey, Italy, France, and other countries. Receives
the Purple Ribbon Medal.

1967

Publishes the first volume of Jisen Serizawa Keisuke
sakuhinshu (The works of Serizawa Keisuke, Selected bythe Artist) and Kataezome [Stencil Dyeing]. Awarded theFreedom of the City of Shizuoka.

1968

Invited to teach a summer seminar at the State Universityof San Diego, holding exhibitions both there and in
Vancouver and Los Angeles.

1974

Designs a great ceremonial curtain for the main hall ofthe Chion-in Temple, Kyoto.

1976

The Serizawa exhibition is held at the Grand Palais, Paris.
Appointed Bunka Korosha (Member of the Order ofCultural Merit) by the Japanese Government.
The Shizuoka City Serizawa Keisuke Art Museum opens
on 15 June. The French Government appoints Serizawa
Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

1934Thanks to the generosity of Mizutani Ryoichi, Serizawa
moves to Tokyo with his family and staff, setting up hishome and workshop in Kamata-ku (present-day Ota-ku).

1981

1937

Designs and manufactures Ehon Don Kihote (TheIllustrated Don Quixote), published by Kojitsu-an, as wellas the cover for Kawabata Yasunari’s novel Yukiguni(Snow Country).

1982

Serizawa designs a set of Ten Great Disciples of theBuddha for the Main Hall of the Shakyamuni Temple atKushinagar, India, the site of the historical Buddha’s finalenlightenment.

1939

Travels to Okinawa with Yanagi Muneyoshi and others
and learns the bingata stencil-dyeing technique at aworkshop in Naha.

1983

The last volume of Serizawa Keisuke zenshu (TheComplete Works of Serizawa Keisuke) is published byChuokoronsha. On August 19 Serizawa collapses at his
home in Kamata and is taken to the hospital.

1984

Serizawa dies on April 5, aged 88.

e
L inSendai Sta.

TOHOKU FUKUSHI UNIVERSITY[1948]
Begins teaching a textile-dyeing classat his home in Aoyama.

Loses his house and all his possessions in the U.S.
firebombing of Tokyo. In December, designs his firststencil-dyed calendar on the suggestion of Yamamoto
Shozo.

The magazine Kogei (Craft) is published for the first timeand Serizawa designs the stencil-dyed covers for the firstyear’s issues.

Aoba-dori●Sendai CityMuseum[1913]
Enters the design department of Tokyo
Higher Technical School.

1945

1931
Toshogu Sta.
JRn Linenza
Se●OsakiHachimanShrine

Dainohara Sta.

Kita-Sendai Sta.

Namboku Subway Line

Tohoku Fukushidai-mae

SubwayBus RouteKita-Sendai Sta.

Rinnoji●TempleTohoku Fukushidai-mae Sta.

Yanagi Muneyoshi, founder of the Japanese Folk Crafts
Movement, visits Serizawa and views his collection ofema (votive plaques). Serizawa travels to Korea and on
the ferry journey there reads and is greatly influenced by
Yanagi’s essay “Kogei no michi” (The Way of Craft), which
opens his eyes to the potential of the crafts and effects achange in the direction of his life.

Compiled by Serizawa Chosuke[1955]
Keisuke and his wife Tayo in front of theSerizawa Paper-dyeing Research Institute.

[1976]The Serizawa exhibition is held in Paris.

[1982]
Serizawa on his 87th birthday,wearing a dancing costume made by theBamileke people of Cameroon,
an item from his collection.

TOHOKU FUKUSHI UNIVERSITYSERIZAWA KEISUKE ART AND CRAFT MUSEUM