The leading ceramics quarterly Honoho Geijutsu recently published a very interesting survey in its 65th issue, listing the names of the most important (juyo) and popular (ninki) ceramic artists of the 20th century.

It was compiled by asking three different groups -- critics and curators, gallery owners and readers -- each to choose 10 potters who they felt outshone the rest. As can be expected, the lists, for the most part, were quite different. While the critics and curators had one set of criteria (for example, who expanded the boundaries of the field, or who made the most dramatic and courageous changes), the gallery folk were probably thinking along the lines of who sells for the highest price. Obviously, these two lines of thinking do intersect at certain names. The readers, most likely seasoned collectors, also selected many names on the pro's lists.

In the juyo category I was quite surprised to see that the overall first-place name, after all three groups' votes were tallied and combined, was that of Kenkichi Tomimoto (1886-1963). One of the main reasons for his topping the charts is that he really became the first professional independent potter (togeika) to set up a studio (after returning from England in 1911) and sell works that were highly individual. He went against the Mingei ideal of the "unknown craftsman," and even though he was a core member of the Mingei founding fathers, he rebelled and broke rank with his comrades over aesthetic philosophies. They didn't become enemies though; Tomimoto remained lifelong friends with Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, Kanjiro Kawai and Soetsu Yanagi.

I would have chosen a different potter to receive the gold -- Tomimoto was indeed a major figure and did exquisite work and profound teaching, but he never saved and expanded traditions the way Toyo Kaneshige and Toyozo Arakawa did for Bizen and Shino, respectively.

Kazuo Yagi's groundbreaking "A Cloud Remembered" (1959) above, and "The Walk of Mr. Zamza" (1954) below

Overall second place went to Kazuo Yagi (1918-1979), but the critics and curators had him at the top of their lists. Yagi was a tremendous figure in postwar Japanese ceramics, reshaping how vessels were viewed and forever changing the ceramic landscape. Yagi, along with fellow Kyotoites Osamu Suzuki and Hikaru Yamada, founded the avant-garde group Sodeisha in 1948, whose main credo was not to be judged by others in official exhibitions and not to copy ancient wares. He turned the ceramic world on its head in 1954 with his wheel of appendages titled "The Walk of Mr. Zamza," and in 1959 with the very unnerving work, "A Cloud Remembered." Yanagi cut the ties to old ways and paved a whole new ceramic highway.

The third-place finisher was Hazan Itaya (1872-1963) with his perfect porcelain floral masterpieces. (See his large retrospective exhibition now at the Idemitsu Museum in Tokyo until April 1.) Other big names rounded off the juyo top 10: Tokuro Kato, Kanjiro Kawai, Shoji Kamoda, Kaneshige, Arakawa, Rosanjin Kitaoji and Shoji Hamada.

In the ninki section another great innovator won over Yagi (another second-place finish) even though he had no votes from the readers. Shoji Kamoda (1933-1983) made vessels with mouths (something Yagi eschewed early in his career), with Pop Art-like colorful wavy designs. His shapes and sense of line, balance and color were thoroughly modern, original and dazzling. Interestingly enough, Kamoda was Tomimoto's student in Kyoto.

For the ninki section, names that don't appear above are: Mineo Okabe (third place), Munemaru Ishiguro (fifth place), Handeishi Kawakita (sixth place) and the eight potters who tied for 10th place, including Bizen's Ryuichi Kakurezaki, Tatsusuke Kuriki from Kyoto and Hagi's living national treasure Kyusetsu Miwa Xl. For a complete list check my Web site.

There was one foreign name on the list -- a surprising one -- Bernard Leach. Even though he influenced the Mingei group and was their overseas champion during his lifetime, he was shunned for American Isamu Noguchi. Now, it's easy to see why when you look at the "art" of their work -- Leach was a "pitcher man," a shokunin (craftsman), while Noguchi was a Renaissance man.

Yet the name Leach, more than Noguchi, lives on in Japan, and a retrospective of his work and friendship with Shoji Hamada is now on at the Japan Folkcraft Museum, the Mingeikan.

The old favorites are there: Hamada's strong and honest work with his trademark sugar millet design and paddled forms, Leach's perfect-pouring pitchers, tiles and charcoal sketches. Starting in 1919, their friendship transcended borders and bridged East and West.

Their spirits continue to live, across borders, easily seen glowing on their wholesome pots. Many potters today in the West owe their philosophy to Leach, and the town of Mashiko owes its entire livelihood to Hamada.

Even today, Hamada is immensely popular in the West, and though few buy Kamoda or Yagi pots, at almost all auctions of Japanese pottery Hamada has the most lots. Of course, he did make some very fine pots, but he also had an English voice in Leach (Leach wrote a major book about Hamada). If the West had as much information on, say, Kamoda, as it does on Hamada, Kamoda would be the Picasso of the ceramic world.

Hamada and Leach remained close friends, and Hamada made a few trips to visit Leach after helping him set up his studio in St. Ives, England, in 1920. He once commented that he wanted to put Leach in his pocket and bring him back to Japan.

When Hamada was in the hospital just before he passed on, Leach, then nearly blind, visited him and sat there for hours holding Hamada's hand, saying, "Hamada, I have you, I have you" -- such was their brotherly love for each other.

In celebrating the gift of a lifelong friendship and the joy and beauty of Hamada and Leach's Mingei works, the Mingeikan offers you a chance to take a bit of that spirit home in your pocket.