Kawai Kanjiro left many works in practical and original works from elaborate and elegant works based on the techniques of Chinese ancient ceramics, and many works in a variety of style.
His artistry was highly regarded both in Japan and abroad, and although there were many stories of the merits such as the Living National Treasure and the Order of Culture, he declined all of them and carried out the untitled one potter for the rest of his life.

In 1868, Kanjiro Kawai was born in Yasugi-cho, Nogi-gun, Shimane Prefecture (now Higashikoji, Yasugi City, Shimane Prefecture).
Although he lost his mother at an early age and was sent to foster children, he grew up with the warm affection of those around him and grew up to be a cheerful child in this town.
After that, he graduated from Matsue Daiichi Junior High School (now Matsue Kita High School) in Shimane Prefecture, before graduating from the ceramics department of Tokyo Higher Industrial Studies (now Tokyo Institute of Technology University). He will start to walk the path of potter in earnest.

In 1912, he built a kiln factory in Gojozaka, Kyoto, and became independent, named Shokei-you Kiln.
The following year, he held his first solo exhibition, and he became famous for his elaborate works based on chinese ancient ceramics. Its reputation was so high that it was said to be a “national treasure existence.”

However, Kanjiro gradually began to question his own style, and in his friendships with Shouji Hamada and Muneyoshi Yanagi, he began to deeply sympathize with the folk art theory, and began to produce works that valued practical use by abandoning his previous style.
After the war, he began to make free and original pottery, far away from folk art. His outstanding artistry has been highly acclaimed around the world, and in 1957 he won the Grand Prix at the Milan Triennale International Industrial Exhibition.
I receive the recommendation of the living national treasure etc., but he decline all.He was a potter with no crown for the rest of his life.

It was Kyoto that became the main part of Kanjiro’s activities, but it is not possible to leave hometown Yasugi from his heart, and he vividly depicts his childhood memories and the state of Yasugi’s town at that time in his books “Sixty Years Ago” and “The Oath of Fire.”
In addition, Kanjiro came back to Japan on occasion and deepened friendship with close friends in his hometown. There are also episodes such as the fact that the pottery that he made was wrapped by newspaper and brought it back as a souvenir. As a result, many works of Kanjiro remain in Yasugi, and Kanjiro continues to live in the hearts of locals.