Many a foreign Japanese pottery scholar or collector owes a great debt to the life and work of Fujio Koyama (1900-1975). He wrote countless books and articles and some were fortunately translated into English; they are still a great source of knowledge and pleasure. These include the wonderful "The Heritage of Japanese Ceramics" (1973) (originally published in Japanese as "Nihon Toji no Dento" [1967]) and "Two Thousand Years of Oriental Ceramics" (1961). The first book, in particular, is required reading for anyone wanting to know the history of this potter's paradise.
Koyama also wore another hat, that of a distinguished potter in his own right. Not limiting himself to any one style, he made Karatsu, hakuji (white porcelain), Bizen, Hagi, Shigaraki and the style for which he became most known, Tanegashima Nanban. To look at the world of Fujio Koyama is to see the whole of Japanese ceramic history and the works of many great potters of the 20th century.
That's just what the Idemitsu Museum in Tokyo hopes you will do as it hosts a retrospective exhibition to commemorate the centennial of Koyama's birth. "Tsuchi ni Asobu, To ni Manabu (Play With Clay, Learn From Pots)" runs until Jan. 28.