Dotted throughout Japan are the potting centers of the common people, makers of wholesome, durable and utilitarian pots. In contrast with tea ceremony utensils and porcelain which were reserved for nobility, the wealthy or export, these folk kilns made zakki or ordinary crockery that met the needs of the populace during the Edo Period and Meiji Era.
These lowly pots sat unappreciated in dusty cupboards until Jan. 10, 1926, when the Mingei (folk art) movement was formed (and the word coined) by Soetsu Yanagi (1889-1961) along with potters Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) and Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966). They, especially Yanagi, went around Japan and rescued those crocks from oblivion.
Volumes have been written on Yanagi and his mission, and I highly recommend that you read his classic book "The Unknown Craftsman" (as translated by his English collaborator Bernard Leach). It certainly changed my life, as it has many another's.