Ryûkyû kotenyaki 琉球古典焼

Patrick Beillevaire (1, 2)

1 CCJ - Chine, Corée, Japon
2 CRJ - Centre de recherches sur le Japon

Ryūkyū kotenyaki, literally “classic ceramic of Ryūkyū”, is an invented art tradition, flourishing in the 1920s and 1930s, which drew mostly from Chinese, Middle Eastern or tropical imaginary motifs. It characteristically exemplifies the tendency of mainland Japanese to exoticize the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, the former kingdom of Ryūkyū, and to look at it as a bridge with tropical Asia and the Pacific islands, while at the same time its inhabitants were forcefully required to become full-fledged Japanese subjects by the imperial government. This presentation examines the rôle of the Kuroda family as entrepreneurs, designers and traders catering for the artistic expectations of mainland Japanese, the terminology of kotenyaki styles, their techniques and design-types.

Mots clés: Ryūkyū kotenyaki; earthenware design techniques; Baron Fain collection; Yanagi Muneyoshi; Mingei-undō

Domaines: Art et histoire de l'art; Histoire; Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie

Patrick Beillevaire. Ryûkyû kotenyaki 琉球古典焼: An invented Okinawan art tradition (Taishō-Shōwa eras). 2008. ⟨halshs-01934690⟩