Kenkichi Tomimoto
Tomimoto June 5, 1886 – June 8, 1963 was a Japanese potter and a Living National Treasure.
Also recorded as Tomimoto Kenkichi
Kenkichi Tomimoto
Yasuzō Nojima · "愚意鑿" BINBOUコレクションⅡ: "図録"44 第10巻 "生誕120年記念 富本憲吉展" ⑤ · Public domain
- Born
- 1886 · Ando.
- Died
- 1963 · Kyoto.
- Nationality
- Japan · Empire of Japan
- Occupation
- teacher · potter · ceramicist
- Education
- Tokyo Academy of Fine Arts
- Honours
- Order of Culture · Person of Cultural Merit · Living National Treasure of Japan
- Languages
- Japanese
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q11456982 · wikipedia · Tomimoto Kenkichi
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The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek · Getty Union List of Artist Names
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Biography
Biography
Kenkichi Tomimoto studied at Tokyo Academy of Fine Arts. The recorded working language is Japanese. Work by Kenkichi Tomimoto is recorded in the collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Distinctions recorded are Order of Culture, Person of Cultural Merit and Living National Treasure of Japan.
His family came from Nara prefecture. He received a commission to design a large Japanese-lacquered zelkova shelf called “kingin-sai kazari tsubo” for the Ume-no-Ma audience room of Tokyo Imperial Palace. In November 1914, Tomimoto married Otake Kazue (also known as 'Kokichi'), a niece of the artist Otake Chikuha. Kazue was at one time a member of the feminist literary group Seito (publishers of the magazine of the same name, Bluestocking). A controversial figure in her youth, Kazue had a close relationship (and, it was thought, an infatuation) with Raicho Hiratsuka. It is thought that Tomimoto may have drawn an early draft of the woodblock print which Otake finished and submitted to Seito, which appeared as the cover of the 1913 New Year's issue of Seito magazine. After marrying, the couple moved to Nara, Japan. Tomimoto and Kazue had three children together, but later separated.
Documentary record
Kenkichi Tomimoto appears in the authority records of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek and the Getty Union List of Artist Names as a ceramicist and potter (5 June 1886 – 8 June 1963). Kenkichi Tomimoto died on 8 June 1963.
Identity
Identity
Kenkichi Tomimoto is recorded as having received Order of Culture, Person of Cultural Merit and Living National Treasure of Japan.
Kenkichi Tomimoto, the father of ceramic artists in Japan.
企画展「富本憲吉展のこれまでとこれから」（奈良県立美術館）
Kenkichi Tomimoto and his wife, Kazue Otake.
『富本憲吉と一枝の近代の家族（下）』-中山修一著作集４
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1886
Kenkichi Tomimoto born at Ando.
1963
Kenkichi Tomimoto died at Kyoto.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Ando.
Birth place
Kyoto.
Death place
Honors
He was a recipient of the Order of Culture. He was also named a Living National Treasure. The Tomimoto Kenkichi Memorial Museum was opened in 1974 in Ando, Nara. His work is also kept in several other museums worldwide, including the Gifu Prefectural Ceramics Museum, the Ohara Museum of Art, the Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, the Brooklyn Museum, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, the Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art, the Museum of New Zealand, the Artizon Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the National Museum of Asian Art.
Documentary record
Kenkichi Tomimoto was born on 5 June 1886; the birthplace is recorded as Ando, Ikoma by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek and as Präfektur Nara by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Tomimoto Kenkichi, revision 1339764511 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.The Imperial Palace: Photo - The Imperial Household Agency. www.kunaicho.go.jp.
- 2.Raicho Hiratsuka (trans. Teruko Craig), In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun – The Autobiography of a Japanese Feminist(『元始、女性は太陽であった』, Genshi, josei wa taiyō de atta), pp. 186, 205
- 3.Raicho Hiratsuka (trans. Teruko Craig), In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun – The Autobiography of a Japanese Feminist(『元始、女性は太陽であった』, Genshi, josei wa taiyō de atta), pp.217, 324
- 4.Jones, Meghen. Ceramics and Modernity in Japan. Routledge. 2019-10-16. 978-0-429-63199-3.
- 5.FACILITY OHARA MUSEUM of ART. 2016-11-11.
- 6.Collections The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo. www.mcart.jp.
- 7.Bowl with decoration of a moth. collections.mfa.org.
- 8.Brush Pot with Carved Panels of Prunus Design and Japanese Characters. 31 October 2018.
- 9.Exchange: Plate with painted design of a covered jar, 'Fragrant Orchid'. exchange.umma.umich.edu.
- 10.Work / Material Details : The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura&Hayama. www.moma.pref.kanagawa.jp.
- 11.Brooklyn Museum. www.brooklynmuseum.org.
- 12.The Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art - Collections. search.artmuseums.go.jp.
- 13.The Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art - Collections. search.artmuseums.go.jp.
- 14.Kenkichi Tomimoto, Bowl, porcelain, wax resist of hop motifs｜Collections｜Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art. www.asahibeer-oyamazaki.com.
- 15.Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. collections.tepapa.govt.nz.
- 16.Collection Highlights. Artizon Museum.
- 17.Bowl Tomimoto, Kenkichi V&A Search the Collections. V and A Collections. 2021-01-13.
- 18.Tomimoto Kenkichi. Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
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People, houses and institutions
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Died at
1- KyotoPlace
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Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
The authorities additionally record the heading Tomimoto Kenkichi. His recorded language was Japanese. He married Kazue Tomimoto. One child is recorded: Sōkichi Tomimoto. Tomimoto received Order of Culture, Person of Cultural Merit and Living National Treasure of Japan.
Identity and origins
Recognition and collections
Work by Kenkichi Tomimoto is
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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