A lifetime creating and collecting folk crafts

Abstract Earlier studies have brought attention to the vast collection of crafts held at the Japan Folk Crafts Museum (Mingeikan) in Tokyo, underlining its importance as a national cultural asset. However, few scholarly works have examined the collections of members of the Mingei movement from the perspective of the connections between their collected objects and their own craft work. Keisuke Serizawa (1895–1984), an active member of the Mingei movement and a dye artist accorded the status of Living National Treasure by the Japanese government, collected a significant number of objects during his lifetime, comparable in quality with the Mingeikan collection. His student, Samirō Yunoki (1922–2024), followed in his footsteps, collecting artefacts from various parts of the world and creating stencil dye works. This paper examines the relationship between these two artists and their collections, focusing on their interest in primitivism and local handicrafts sourced from around the world. It also draws connections between them and their contemporaries among European artists, who collected objects in the milieu of colonialism.