We are pleased to announce the relaunch of the official website dedicated to Hanasennin, born Nagakazu Kato (1917–1998), now available at its new domain: hanasennin.com.
Hanasennin began his artistic career as a painter and printmaker before devoting himself to the creation of distinctive Raku tea bowls in Kugenuma, Fujisawa, after the Second World War. He studied oil painting under Takeji Fujishima at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, now Tokyo University of the Arts, and also pursued copperplate printmaking while still a student. From 1940, he exhibited works with the Japan Print Association, which elected him to membership in 1944 while he was serving overseas as a second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army.
After the war, he adopted the art name Hanasennin and built a Raku kiln in the garden of his home. Over approximately twenty years, he created tea bowls using an unusual method: rather than working on a potter’s wheel, he swiftly shaped exceptionally soft, moisture-rich clay in the palm of his hand. According to family records, he produced close to one thousand Raku tea bowls during his lifetime.
As his family has begun organizing the surviving works and archival materials, previously little-known aspects of his life—including his prewar printmaking, military history, and postwar development as a maker of tea bowls—have gradually come to light. Raku tea bowls, oil paintings, copperplate prints, inscribed wooden boxes, photographs, and other materials remain preserved in the family collection.
Through this website, we will introduce Hanasennin’s works, techniques, life, and the continuing progress of our research, based on the documents and objects that can be verified.
Hanasennin dreamed of bringing people from around the world together for a peaceful tea gathering, serving tea in bowls he had made himself. We hope this website will offer visitors an opportunity to encounter that enduring wish and the distinctive artistic world embodied in each bowl.
Official Hanasennin Website
https://hanasennin.com
On August 13, the first day of Obon, we visited Hanasennin’s grave to mark the relaunch of this official website and reaffirm our commitment to preserving and researching his works and archives.
