Jiro Nakayama
Born in 1943 in Tokyo, Japan

Graduated from Craft Design Department, Kyoto City University of Arts
Graduated from Fine Arts Graduate Course, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music/ Crafts Course,
lacquering Enrolled as a member of Japan Craft Design Association, Inc.

He enjoys the present, working in my studio next to my home, producing Japanese lacquer ware, which embodies both utility and beauty, and conducting every operation on my own, from preparing the base to finishing a piece.




November 11th

In the morning:
We drove to Studio Jiro, where we practiced drawing with lacquer.

In the afternoon:
We had lunch at an Indian curry restaurant. We drank while we listened to a lecture on lacquerware by Jiro-san.

November 12th

In the morning:
We drove to visit Jiro san at his studio again. We practiced lacquering.

In the afternoon:
We had a lunch of pork cutlet at Yaba-ton. After listening to Jiro-san's talk on lacquerware, we had a nightlong meeting.

November 13th

In the morning: We prepared for our presentation.

In the afternoon: Our presentation began.




The only member from abroad moved into another group on the first day. Afterwards, we were joined by an interpreter who was interested in Japanese lacquerware. So our fieldwork started with Japanese students and an interpreter from Singapore.

"Studio Jiro" was located next to Jiro's home and consisted of a room only six tatami mats in size, with his work on display and a small working space enclosed by glass screens. Jiro wore a pair of glasses, tied his grey hair up into a knot, and was always smiling. His figure differed completely from the image of 'craftsman' that we had harbored up until then. He liked to drink and was very gentle.

We spent two days with him. His wife once brought us a supply of 'Takoyaki' (hot octopus dumplings) and beer and told us about his daily routine. His drinking habit must be influencing his work. When he drew, the brush in his hand trembled. When he spread gold leaves on ware, they fell about him. We were greatly moved to learn that his way of life was so strongly reflected in his work.

At first, we tried to discover what might be the perceptional capabilities of a professional. But we finally chose his personality as our theme, as it differed so from our conventional image of a professional craftsman. The discrepancy was one reason, but at any rate we were attracted by his humane existence. He did not spend much time engaging in his own work but guided us in coating and drawing pictures with japan. He kept saying that he wanted us to know about 'japan'. We took notes as he spoke, and were ready with these for the final presentation.






Our theme focused on the difference between our conventional image of a craftsman and the real being. Before our presentation, we reviewed the video we'd taken during our two days at the studio.

We began by choosing those of Jiro's remarks that conveyed this discrepancy, as well as those that comprised his explanations of the 'japan' process. Because the sound in the video was not clear, we wrote down his remarks by hand, inserted them in the video and edited them on a Mac.

It took much longer than expected to read from digital video to Mac, edit the film, and choose the words. During the final presentation, a technical problem with the Mac put a stop to the film. We had to present our impressions and opinions orally.






Satoru Hasegawa
Musashino Art University,
graduate school
 So Kobayashi
Musashino Art University		 Nobuyuki Inaha
Nagoya University of Arts
Reiko Nara
Nagoya City University,
School of Design
and Architecture,
graduate school		 Yuichi Harada
Aichi Pref. University
of Fine Arts & Music