On MINGEI by Soetsu Yanagi

Soetsu Yanagi (1889-1961), one of Japan's leading writers and philosophers, devoted himself to the collection and preservation of traditional Japanese folk craft traditions. He founded the Nippon Mingeikan, Japan's first folk crafts museum in 1936. Soetsu Yanagi defined the spirit of mingei in writings such as the excerpt below.

 

Mingei (the abbreviation of minshu-teki kogei), which means the crafts or arts made by the people to be used daily by the people, was coined to imply the opposite of bourgeois fine art. Mingei is:

• utilitarian oriented
• commonplace ordinary or "normal" things. Everyday necessary items such as clothes, household utensils, furniture, and stationary articles are included in mingei. What is luxurious, costly and rare, is not Mingei.

Those who make mingei items are not notable individuals, but nameless craftspeople. What is made is not to be displayed but to be appreciated by everyday usage. They are regular indispensable things made in quantity and affordably priced. The nature of mingei is borne from the community's way of life.

However, Mingei is not every single inexpensive necessity you see lined on shop shelves. Mingei must be honest to its utilitarian purpose. Items created with commercial motives are dishonest to its purpose.

Items made in fashion are elegant and refined and often based on distinct preferences. They are not mingei because the concern in decoration and ideas precede utilitarian basics.

Mingei items must be:

• honest to utility and "healthy" in form
• particular about quality
• produced without being forced, artificial or self imposing
• conscientious of the user.

Things made with atmosphere above quality, intentional negligence, vulgar colors, and those that are cheap, easily breakable, flimsy and not user-oriented are dishonest and unethical.

For these reasons, mingei must be faithful to everyday life and "healthy" (both physically and spiritually). True mingei is your true companion for life. It has the virtue of being useful, dependable, convenient, and comforting to live with. It has the affection to grow on you. Mingei is therefore natural, genuine, simple, durable, and safe.

From the exhibition catalogue, translated by Kyoko U. Mimura

Last updated May 18, 1995