Latest / It's All Japanese to Me / Ep. 11 — Mingei: in Yanagi’s own words

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Ep. 11 — Mingei: in Yanagi’s own words · It's All Japanese to Me

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Rikuto.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: So today's word is mingei.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: In English, it is usually translated as walkcraft.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I have mentioned this word a few times already in episode 2, yonobi, and episode 5, getemono.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: So today, I would like to look at how Yanagi Souetsu himself explained it.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: The digital daijisen describes mingei as practical crafts born from
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: the everyday lives of ordinary people, simple and with a strong local character.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: The Nipponika Encyclopedia says is short for the craft of the people.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: In 1941, Yanagi published a book called Mingei to wa nanika, or What is Mingei?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: At the very beginning, he defines mingei as crafts that ordinary people use every day.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: He says the closest word is zakki, which means miscellaneous everyday wares.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Then he compares mingei with what he calls aristocratic crafts.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Mingei is It's made by unknown craftspeople and it has no signature.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: It is made in large numbers, it is cheap and it is used in the living room or the kitchen.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Aristocratic crafts are made by famous makers and they are often signed.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: They are made in small numbers,
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: they are expensive,
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: and they are placed in the guest room or the tokonoma, the alcove.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, Yanagi also wrote an encyclopedia entry on Mingei.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: The entry in the Heibonshire World Encyclopedia is signed with his name.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: There he explains why they avoided the English word art.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Art mainly means fine art and it tends to mean individual works.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: But the point of mingei is that it is not individual and that it is unsigned.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: He writes that Western folk art and Japanese mingei are close in content
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: but very different in what they value.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: The same entry has second part about the Mingi movement written by another author.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: It notes one criticism.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: The movement was originally about the work of nameless craftspeople.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: The writer sees it as natural for the times and as an open question for the movement.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm only following what these texts say at the moment, so please take this as one reading.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, that is it for today's episode about Mingei.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much for listening and see you next time.
• 3:40
  [music]