Tamura Kōichi

Place: Sano

Born: 1918

Death: 1987

Biography:

Koichi Tamura was a Japanese ceramic artist. He demonstrated a mastery of wheel throwing, glazing and firing techniques throughout his long career. Since childhood, he showed a talent for drawing and assisted in the family business of ceremonial decorations making. In 1941, he studied at the Art Academy (ceramic design department) in Tokyo and taught drawing at the Crafts School in Osaka. He worked in agriculture from 1945 to 1946 before apprenticing with Tomimoto Kenkichi in Kyoto. Tamura returned to Sano in 1948 and built a porcelain kiln for a factory, opening his own workshop in 1949. He taught at the Ceramic Institute in Mashiko in 1950 and became a professor at the Art Academy in Tokyo and Chairman of the 'Contemporary Japanese Crafts Association' in 1968. Tamura was designated as a 'Living National Treasure' in 1986 and died in Sano in 1987.