The Vitality of Kanjiro Kawai, One of the Mingei Artists who Created the Leach Bar
The ROYAL STAGE (Leach Bar 60th Anniversary Special Vol. 2)
More than 80 years after its founding, the Royal Hotel introduces its history, stories from literature and movies, and many other stories about the Royal Hotel.
Tamae Sagi, granddaughter of the ceramicist, sculptor, calligrapher, and essayist Kanjiro Kawai (1890–1966) and curator of Kawai Kanjiro’s House in Kyoto’s Higashiyama district, has visited the Leach Bar five times. Her first visit was around New Year’s 1984, when she stayed at the hotel with her grandmother Tsune (Kanjiro’s wife) and her mother Suyako (both now deceased).
The Leach Bar has no door. It hosts an amazing collection of famous works by the Showa-era creative group Mingei (meaning “folk crafts”), yet you can casually step in from the hotel corridor because it’s a hotel bar, not a museum.
Those who have been to the Leach Bar, or just passed by, should reflect on this point.
The first thing that catches your eye is the large plate at the back, mentioned at the beginning of this article. The reddish dark gray appears to be a deep blue-green when you get close. You can feel its vitality and allure.
Sagi remembers something her mother Suyako said spontaneously at that time.
“She said, ‘Oh my, father’s here too.’ I think that’s a work from when Kawai was in his 60s. And these two near the entrance are from his later years, when he was in his 70s.”
The Leach Bar features ceramic tile paintings by Bernard Leach (1887–1979), mugs by Shoji Hamada (1894–1978), woodblock prints by Shiko Munakata (1903–75), and indigo textiles by Keisuke Serizawa (1895–1984), all arranged in an exquisite layout that creates a space appealing to both Mingei fans and bar enthusiasts.
My guess is that Leach and Hamada planned the arrangement of the works together, placing them in their current locations with deep respect for Kawai.
The Kawai Residence as a Meeting Place for Mingei Members
Soetsu Yanagi (1889–1961), the art critic and philosopher who led the Mingei movement, would invariably tell anyone of note, “If you go to Kyoto, you should visit Kawai.” The Kawai residence had a constant stream of visitors from both Japan and abroad. Kanjiro would welcome guests while working on his pottery, deepening their connections.
Tamae’s mother Suyako grew up as child hearing the voices of Mingei members chatting in their home.
“Friends such as Soetsu Yanagi, Shoji Hamada, and Bernard Leach often stayed overnight at our home, and their conversations would continue late into the night. The bedding for the tall Mr. Leach was specially handmade by my mother to keep his feet from sticking out, and it measured over two meters in length. It was shaped like a yatsuhashi cracker, so I playfully called it the yatsuhashi futon. […] The other three gentlemen, unlike my father, never touched tobacco or alcohol at all. They were almost like Puritans. Father was the sole exception, which was one of the seven wonders of the world for me as a child.”
（From Unforgotten Memories—My Father Kawai Kanjiro and Those Connected to Him by Suyako Kawai, published by Seigensha Art Publishing）
The Leach Bar was created by a group who were all teetotalers, except one. It’s a curious story, but since they were all cheerful creatives and artisans, and the core idea was to create a space guided by the Mingei-style concept of decorating with items used in daily life rather than exhibiting works of art, the matter of drinking alcohol was probably a minor point to them.
Common Ground Between Two Mingei Spaces
When visiting Kawai Kanjiro’s House—Kanjiro’s former home and workshop—one is struck by the multinational array of visitors. Nevertheless, no one rushes about or has a grumpy expression. Perhaps this is because it was originally a person’s home rather than a museum.
Put on slippers and you can step into the garden, and even see the climbing kiln “Shokeiyo” built in the back in 1920. Some visitors study the various pieces intently, while others simply sit relaxed by the sunken hearth. People spend their time however they choose.
“So this is where Kanjiro would talk late into the night with Leach, Yanagi, and Hamada…”
The space is filled with pleasant ambient sounds—the pendulum of the wall clock, wind from Higashiyama rattling the windows, and the slow footsteps and conversations of visitors. There’s no background music or anything like that, of course.
At the Leach Bar too, the only sounds are the subdued bustle of noises from the hotel corridor, the sounds of making drinks, and guests’ conversations. What both spaces share is being public Mingei spaces created by Kanjiro Kawai and his cheerful co-creators.
Both are spaces that collect masterpieces of Japanese arts and crafts, yet the value of both the house and the Leach Bar seems to transcend the worth of the individual works… Perhaps this passage by Kawai explains everything:
“People tend to focus intently only on the final effect of objects. And they mistakenly think they are moved only by the final result that objects produce. But, in fact, they are most directly moved by what lies behind, something quite removed from the objects themselves.” (From the preface of Kanjiro Kawai’s Oath of Fire, published by Kodansha Literary Library)
Text by Atsushi Nakashima
RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka,
Vignette Collection
Leach Bar
Phone: +81(0)6-6441-0983 (direct)
West Wing 1F 5-3-68 Nakanoshima,Kita-ku,Osaka 530-0005 Japan
