VIII. Rise of the Folk Art Movement and the Destination of the Takashimaya Folk Art Destination: Nihombashi Takashimaya Department Store in the early Showa period.

A decade after the Great Kanto Earthquake, which had left much of central Tokyo in ruins, a new landmark emerged in the rebuilt Nihonbashi area. The Takashimaya Tokyo Department Store, now the main building of Nihombashi Takashimaya S.C., opened in March 1933 at Nihonbashi-dori 2-chome (currently Nihonbashi 2-chome).

The Takashimaya Tokyo Department Store was originally located in Minami-Denmacho 1-chome (now Kyobashi 1-chome). Although the building survived the collapse during the Great Kanto Earthquake, it was completely destroyed by the fire that followed. After temporarily operating at the Chiyoda-kan building across the street (now the location of the Kyobashi Trust Tower), which survived the earthquake, the new store was rebuilt on the Minami-Denmacho site. However, because the Minami-Denmacho site was small, plans for relocation began immediately after the earthquake.

The name of the building at the time of its construction was Nippon Seimei Kan. Nippon Life Insurance built the structure, and Takashimaya started its department store operations as a tenant. The building features a blend of Japanese and Western architectural designs with two basement levels and eight stories aboveground. Inside, the ground-level floor features an atrium hall adorned with rare marble columns imported from Italy and illuminated by stunning chandeliers. The building’s most notable feature, which left people marveling, was its status as the first department store in Japan to have air conditioning throughout. Let’s take a moment to appreciate just how astonishing that was to people at the time.

<I was surprised the moment I stepped into the Takashimaya Department Store. It felt as if this place was completely different from the outside.
It was cool, really cool inside!
Not a single person in this building seemed worn out by the heat. Customers and store clerks alike looked vibrant and energetic, like freshly caught sweetfish. Yet, it was strange that all the windows were tightly shut.>

This is an excerpt from an article on “Mandan Koukoku (comic story advertisement)” that the Asahi Shimbun published in the summer of 1933, in the article Musei Tokugawa, a stand-up comedian talked about the Takashimaya department store. The article then proceeded to discuss the air conditioning system in detail. It is titled “Fifteen Minutes to Karuizawa.” The article described the Takashimaya department store as being cool even in mid-summer, much like Karuizawa, a popular summer resort known for its comfortable temperatures.

This cutting-edge space was filled with what appeared to be outdated everyday tools from rural areas. It was during the Contemporary Japanese Folk Art Exhibition, held in November 1934, the year after the new building opened. The exhibition featured over 10,000 items on display, nearly filling an entire floor on the 8th floor.

A newspaper advertisement from that time stated, “Over 10,000 pieces of folk art collected from across Japan by the Japan Folk Art Association, led by Soetsu Yanagi, Kanjiro Kawai, Shoji Hamada, Bernard Leach, Keisuke Serizawa, and others, were displayed and sold at the grand sale event.” (Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun, November 16, 1934) What a luxurious event it is to be able to purchase items handpicked by the leading advocates of folk art right on the spot. The article also highlighted exhibition features, including model rooms, such as a study designed by Bernard Leach, a dining room inspired by Shoji Hamada, and a kitchen created by Kanjiro Kawai. Additionally, it announced various live demonstrations, including the creation of shogi pieces by Tendo Yamagata, home-spun spinning and weaving from Iwate, and woodturning and coloring of local toys from Miyagi. The actual event also featured papermaking from Karasuyama, Tochigi.

If you are a folk art enthusiast, you might recall the Folk Art Exhibition that took place at Takashimaya in Tokyo and Osaka in recent years. As the author, I am among those eagerly looking forward to such exhibitions. This event, featuring both an exhibition and a folk art sale, has been held multiple times since 2012 and will take place for the fifth time from August to September this year. The exhibition that marked the beginning of this trend is the Contemporary Japanese Folk Art Exhibition, a key event that is essential to understanding the history of folk art. In 1935, the year after this exhibition took place in Tokyo, it was held at Takashimaya in Osaka.

After many years, Takashimaya’s Contemporary Japanese Folk Art Exhibition made a comeback and remains a topic of conversation today. We are now going to examine the behind-the-scenes developments that connect the early Showa period, when a new perspective on folk art emerged, to the present day.

Soetsu Yanagi, a religious philosopher who led the folk art movement, wrote the following in the introduction to magazine Kogei No. 47 (November 1934, Japan Folk Art Association). This issue was sold at the Contemporary Japanese Folk Art Exhibition to commemorate the event as the exhibition’s catalog.

<While I had some knowledge, I had no way of knowing what types of pieces I would actually encounter. We embarked on a long journey to explore the folk art that has developed in various regions of Japan. Our journey spanned from Tsugaru in the north to Satsushu in the south. The purpose of your journey goes beyond simply searching for old items. It was to discover what was actually being created.>

The term “folk art” was coined in 1925 by Soetsu Yanagi, ceramicists Shoji Hamada and Kanjiro Kawai, and others who shared their vision. They discovered beauty in the handcrafted tools that people used every day without much consideration, calling it folk craft or folk art. The following year, they published the Prospectus for the Establishment of the Japan Folk Art Museum, aiming to create an art museum dedicated to preserving and exhibiting folk art. However, the Japan Folk Art Museum in Komaba, Tokyo, actually opened in 1936, ten years after the initial declaration.

During the ten-year preparation period, the newly emerged term “folk art” gained supporters and evolved into a lifestyle and cultural movement. During this time, Yanagi and his team worked diligently to organize exhibitions, publish the magazine Kogei, open folk art stores, and establish the Japan Folk Art Association, all built on the network they had created through their efforts. A key aspect of these activities was the exhibitions at department stores that combined an exhibition with a sales event.

As they traveled throughout Japan in search of unseen folk art, Yanagi and his team shifted their focus from old items created in the past to those still being made today. They also began publishing New Folk Arts with their new members. To promote current and new products, it was essential not only to exhibit them but also to establish a sales channel.

Those were the days when department stores were becoming popular. During the Taisho and Showa eras, railroads expanded across the country, linking urban and rural areas. As industrialization advanced and more people began working in cities, long-established department stores were built in regional areas with new department stores opening one after another at railway station terminals. The popularity of the 0.10-yen store, managed by Takashimaya, showed how department stores that were once considered too high-class for ordinary people became more accessible. Department stores evolved into places where people could enjoy a touch of luxury. For Yanagi and his team aiming to promote folk art, such a department store was the ideal venue to showcase their work.

Exhibitions at department stores were also held at Matsuzakaya and Shirokiya, but Takashimaya had the strongest connection to the folk art movement. In May 1932, the San’in Folk Art Exhibition took place at Takashimaya in Osaka. Given its popularity, the exhibition was held again in October of the same year in Osaka, followed by another event at Takashimaya in Kyoto in November. The following year, in 1933, the newly opened Takashimaya department store in Tokyo hosted the New Industrial Crafts Exhibition, while the Takashimaya in Osaka held the Comprehensive Folk Art Exhibition. The next event they planned was the Contemporary Japanese Folk Art Exhibition mentioned at the beginning of this article.

The strong relationship between Takashimaya and folk art was reinforced by the presence of someone who had a deep understanding of folk art. He was Kenichi Kawakatsu, the advertising manager at Takashimaya Tokyo, who later became the general manager. Kawakatsu met Kanjiro Kawai in 1921, and they remained friends for life. In the same year, Kawai held his first solo exhibition at Takashimaya Tokyo in Minami-Denmacho. From then on, Takashimaya became the venue where he showcased his new works, continuing to do so until his later years. Kawakatsu was among those who learned about folk art through his encounter with Kawai and became a supporter of the art. The works of Kawai collected by Kawakatsu are now part of the Kawakatsu Collection at the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto.

Yanagi and his team had traveled to various locations to explore folk art, but the scale of the planned Contemporary Japanese Folk Art Exhibition was unprecedented. It featured a variety of items beyond pottery without restricting the regions of origin. They embarked on their journey unsure of how many items they would be able to collect to fulfill the expectations of this grand project. Their collection trip began in May 1934 in the Kuriyama region of Tochigi. From that point until October, Yanagi traveled around the country with available members.

In July, three days after finishing a trip through Shinshu from Komoro to Matsumoto and Suwa, he set off on another journey, this time traveling through Toyama and Nanto to Gifu and Fukuroi in Shizuoka. In early August, he toured around Iwate, and in late August, he traveled through the Chugoku and Kyushu regions, covering areas from Himeji to Kagoshima. Then, at the end of August, he traveled to Fukushima, Yamagata, Akita, and Aomori. In mid-September, he made a visit to Shikoku. In October, he continued his journey north from Sendai to Naruko and Mount Iwate. This amount of travel was not sufficient. In a letter dated July 18, Yanagi wrote to Kichinosuke Tonomura and his nephew Yoshitaka Yanagi, who were involved in dyeing and weaving in Hamana County, Shizuoka. He requested their assistance, stating, “I can’t visit all of these places by myself. I would like you to travel for about one week to ten days. I will cover all of your travel expenses.” As a result, they divided the travel plans and visited Ise and Wakayama in August with Yanagi’s sons, Sori and Munemoto.

They occasionally used airplanes and ships during their journey, but most of their travels were by railroad with cars arranged for travel beyond the train stations. They occasionally rode horses when traveling on roads that were not accessible by car. Guided by local residents, they explored various commercial and industrial promotion centers, kilns, workshops, and antique and secondhand tool shops. During their journey, they were delighted by their encounters with the earthen teapots used on trains, which they ordered along with their lunchboxes. Their satisfaction led them to offer to purchase an empty teapot.

Folk art pieces from various regions, personally handpicked by the Yanagis and their team, were brought into Takashimaya one after another. Yanagi and his team felt relieved and joyful seeing the vast collection of pieces gathered at the venue. Kawakatsu later recalled how Yanagi and his teams felt a strong sense of accomplishment during that time.

<Thousands of pieces they had collected were loaded into the Takashimaya warehouse for storage. They were thrilled to see the large collection of pieces in the warehouse. Yanagi smiled with satisfaction, while Kawai was visibly excited. Leach raised his hands in the air with a playful expression. Hamada appeared calm but couldn’t hide the excitement on his face. He took the hands of Leach and Kawai, smiling with joy.> (Mingeikan no Kadode to Takashimaya (Launch of Folk Art Museum and Takashimaya) Mingei, February 1978, Japan Folk Crafts Association)

This writing vividly captures the personalities of those present. Kawakatsu noted that it took about five days to set up the display, and the exhibition was successfully held in Nihonbashi, the heart of Tokyo.

What was the actual exhibition venue like? Let’s take a look around the venue, using the remaining photos as our guides.

The venue is sectioned off with white walls and a tiled roof with large jars and bowls displayed on the floor in front of the walls. Upon entering the exhibition hall, small chests, along with jars, bowls, and pots, immediately catch the eye. Small plates and bowls are closely arranged on display tables. There are also displays featuring a range of wooden and lacquerware items, including wappa lunchboxes, lacquerware, and spoons. Additionally, there are stands showcasing various small metalwork items, from locks to large pots, wok pan support racks, and cutlery. Straw raincoats and hats from northern regions adorned the wall, while baskets, colanders, brooms, and other woven straw goods were displayed in the foreground. Some spaces were lined with dyed and woven goods, while others display such items as cushions, fans, kites, and harnesses. The eye-catching exhibit is titled Diagram of the Current Distribution of Japanese Folk Art. Strings extend from the map on the wall, linking the places of origin to the corresponding products. Black lines may illustrate some of the journeys taken by the collectors. Yanagi and his team’s enthusiasm for the exhibition is evident in their effort to present a two-dimensional diagram in three dimensions, making it easy to understand.

The highlight of this exhibition is the three types of model rooms. The dining room, designed by Hamada, features a fireplace, a table, chairs, and various Western furnishings. A notable point is the staircase-style chest that serves as a sideboard. The kitchen, designed by Kawai, showcases an elegant layout that includes a cooking table, a fireplace, and a water area, all arranged around a small, raised tatami mat floor. The study, designed by Reach, transformed an alcove by incorporating a built-in desk and bookshelves on one side, while a low table occupies the other side, creating an efficient blend of Japanese and Western styles.

This was not the first time Yanagi and his team had created a model room. In 1928, Yanagi showcased a pavilion named Mingeikan, (House of Folk Art) representing an ideal lifestyle in a single-story wooden house he designed. This exhibit was part of the Tairyo Kinen Kokusan Shinko Tokyo Exposition (Domestic Production Promotion Tokyo Exhibition in Commemoration of the Showa Enthronement) held in Ueno, Tokyo. Takashimaya, known for its expertise in interior decoration, was also among the first to host a furniture decoration exhibition in 1920 and introduce model room displays. The model rooms from that time appeared tidier and more modern than we had anticipated. In contrast, the three rooms in the Folk Art Exhibition appeared rather outdated. How were they viewed and evaluated by people at the time?

An article titled “The Buried Beauty of Folk Art that Should be Brought Back to Cities: An Educational Exhibition of Folk Art” was published in the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun on April 25, 1935, during the exhibition at Takashimaya in Osaka the following year. The article discusses positively, stating, “This exhibition is filled with wonder and lessons for those living in large cities.” Kawakatsu also recalled the event as a great success, noting that enthusiasts flocked to the venue in large numbers and were very satisfied.

Folk art pieces likely reminded city dwellers of their distant hometowns, as they evoke the tangible sensations of a down-to-earth way of life. Additionally, displaying these items alongside chairs, tables, and other Western furniture offered a chance to view them from a new perspective, much like how Yanagi and his team once marveled at the bowls and plates they discovered in rural villages and tucked away in town corners. Reflecting on how people 90 years ago disappeared into the crowded streets of Nihonbashi, carrying the pots and colanders they discovered and liked at the exhibition, makes them feel familiar to me, as they are much like us today.

Kawakatsu also shared the behind-the-scenes details of this exhibition in his recollection. He recalled that the Takashimaya department store efficiently arranged advance payments for travel and shopping expenses related to the collection, demonstrating its commitment to supporting the collectors. After several rounds of selection, the finest pieces were sent to the newly opened Folk Art Museum, while the remaining items were showcased at the Folk Art Exhibition. As a result, he reflected that “Takashimaya was willing to absorb some losses from the start, but we successfully delivered numerous pieces to the Folk Art Museum, and these losses were covered by the event budget. Furthermore, the event turned out to be a tremendous success and very popular.” He concluded his recollection by expressing gratitude to the collectors for the positive outcome.

Extensive research and the collections found there. They built strong connections with friends across various regions of Japan and successfully attracted new supporters from the general public. The Contemporary Japanese Folk Art Exhibition served as the concluding event just before the opening of the Japan Folk Art Museum.

As mentioned earlier, in the 47th issue of Kogei, which also served as a catalog of the exhibition, Yanagi addressed the alarming decline of traditional handicrafts. He concluded by stating, “We must look forward to the future and anticipate the emergence of new folk art.” To achieve this, he emphasized the importance of not simply using old items as they are. Instead, we should learn from the past and repurpose materials, methods, and skills for new applications.

At the 2020 Folk Art Exhibition, held during the COVID-19 pandemic, a concept room inspired by folk art and designed for modern living was proposed. Additionally, this year’s Folk Art Exhibition will feature an exhibition titled Yunoki Samiro and His Fellow Artists. Samiro Yunoki, a dyeing artist who studied under Keisuke Serizawa, continues to create art at the age of 100 this year and remains popular among people of all ages. The central theme of the exhibition is “fellow artists.” Ko Sato, deputy manager of Takashimaya’s Planning and Advertising Department, commented, “Yunoki really wanted the exhibition to highlight not only himself but also his friends who supported and progressed alongside him.” If Yanagi and his team represent the first generation of folk art advocates, then Yunoki and his friends form the second generation of creators, having been directly taught by the pioneers of the first generation. Just as Yanagi and his team sought new forms of beauty, Yunoki and his friends from the same generation have inspired one another and worked on their handicrafts. This is why folk art is called a movement.

The bond between craftsmanship and people has been passed down through generations and will continue into the future. The Nihombashi Takashimaya department store, where the event is held, is a building completed in 1933 that has been renovated to maintain its original appearance. The search for the future will continue again this year at this location, which preserves the atmosphere of the days when Yanagi and his team worked tirelessly.

References

Koukoku Mandan (1933) Tokyo Asahi Shimbun Advertising Department, Asahi Shimbun
Mingei, November 1973, February 1978, Japan Folk Art Association
150-year History of Takashimaya (1982) Takashimaya 150-year History Compilation Committee
Complete Works of Soetsu Yanagi, 21-II and Complete Works of Soetsu Yanagi, Vol. 22-III (1989) Soetsu Yanagi, Chikuma Shobo
Hyakkaten no Bunkashi (1999) edited by Taketoshi Yamamoto and Tamotsu Nishizawa, Sekaishisosha
Kurashi to Bijutsu to Takashimaya Exhibition Catalog (2013) Setagaya Art Museum
Mingei no Rekishi (2016) Naokuni Shiga, Chikuma Gakugeibunko