1890 Born in Yasugi City, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
1966 Died at the age of 76 in Kyoto, Japan
1910 After graduating from Matsue Middle he enrolled in the Tokyo Higher Polytechnical School Kyoto Research Institute for Ceramics (now Tokyo Institute of Technology) (Kyoto, Japan)
1914 Joined the Kyoto Municipal Ceramic Research Institute.
1917 Left the research institute and became an advisor to the fifth-generation Kiyomizu Rokubei.
1921 Exhibited at the ‘First Annual Creative Ceramics Exhibition’, and from then on, continued to present his works throughout his life. His artistic style can be broadly divided into three periods: Early period → modeled mainly after ancient Chinese ceramics; Middle period →focused on the ‘beauty of utility’; Late period → centered upon ‘form and design’.
1926 Together with Yanagi Sōetsu, Hamada Shōji, and Tomimoto Kenkichi, he proposed the establishment of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum (Nihon Mingei Bijutsukan).
1937 Designed his own residence (now known as the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum, located in Gojozaka, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto.) and had it built by craftsmen from his hometown of Yasugi, led by his elder brother Zenzaemon as the main carpenter. His artwork Iron Red Glazed Jar with Floral Medallion Design (Tetsu Tansha Sōka Marumon Tsubo) was awarded the Grand Prix at the Paris International Expo.
1947 Authored "Hi no Negai" (A Wish of Fire) and "Inochi no Mado" (The Window of Life).
1957 White Flat Vase with Floral Design (Hakujisōka-e Henko) was awarded the Grand Prix at the Milan Triennale Exhibition.
Recent Exhibitions (Selection)
2025 The 100th Anniversary of Mingei: Kyoto’s Legacy of Everyday Life, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art (Kyoto, Japan)
Japanese Ceramic Collection of the Hosokawa Family: Works of Kawai Kanjiro and Tea Ceremony Utensils, Eisei Bunko Museum (Tokyo, Japan)
Cooperative Craft: Artmaking of the Mingei Movement, Arizona State University Art Museum (Tempe, AZ, USA)
2024 Kanjiro Kawai : What is Kanjiro’s charm?, Toyota City Folk Craft Museum (Toyota, Japan)
Collection Exhibition Part 2 : The Flourishing of Modern Kyoto Ceramics – Kenkichi Tomimoto and Kanjiro Kawai, The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park (Shiga, Japan)
2023 The Kagizenyoshifusa Collection : Kawai Kanjiro and His Genealogy 1st Period, ZENBI Kagizen Art Museum (Kyoto, Japan)
Japan, Form & Function : The Montgomery Collection, Crow Museum of Asian Art (The University of Texas) (Dallas, TX, USA)
2022 Togi Shimatsu: The Ceramics of Kawai Kanjiro, Nakanoshima Kosetsu Museum of Art (Osaka, Japan)
2021 Les Flammes. L'Âge de la céramique, Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (Paris, France)
100 Years of Mingei: The Folk Crafts Movement, The National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo, Japan)
2020 The 130th Anniversary of the Birth of Kanjiro Kawai: from Tamesaburo Yamamoto Collection, Asahi Group Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art (Kyoto, Japan)
Komori Shinobu, Kawai Kanjiro, and Hamada Shoji: From Researching Ceramics, Each Found His Own Art, Traveling exhibition to : Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, (Tochigi, Japan) and Seto City Art Museum (Aichi)
2019 MINGEI NOW, Sokyo Gallery (Kyoto, Japan)
Potter Kawai Kanjiro: Works from the Kawakatsu Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto, Japan)
2018 Exhibition of Kawai Kanjiro, Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art (Tokyo, Japan); The Museum of Ceramic Art (Hyogo)
2016 Kawai Kanjiro, The Japan Folk crafts Museum (Osaka, Japan)
Mingei of Japan : Treasures New and Old from the Museum’s Collection, Mingei International Museum (San Diego, CA, USA)
Selected Public Collections
Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum (Seto, Aichi)
Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL, USA)
Asahi Group Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art (Kyoto, Oyamazaki)
Asian Art Museum San Francisco (San Francisco, CA, USA)
Brooklyn Museum (New York, NY, USA)
Eisei Bunko Foundation (Tokyo, Japan)
Harn Museum of Art (Gainesville, FL, USA)
Japan Folk Crafts Museum (Tokyo, Japan)
Kagizen Art Museum (Kyoto, Japan)
Kanjiro Kawai Memorial Museum (Kyoto, Japan)
Kodama Museum (Kagoshima, Japan)
Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto, Japan)
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY, USA)
Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, MN, USA)
Mingei International Museum (San Diego, CA, USA)
Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst (Köln, Germany)
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA, USA)
Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX, USA)
National Craft Museum (Kanazawa, Ishikawa)
National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia)
National Museum of Asian Art (Washington D.C., USA)
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (Tokyo)
Ohara Museum of Art (Okayama, Kurashiki)
Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art (Tokyo, Japan)
Pola Museum (Kanagawa, Japan)
Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR, USA)
San Diego Museum of Art (San Diego, CA, USA)
Shimane Art Museum (Shimane, Japan)
Toyota City Folk Craft Museum (Aichi, Japan)
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art (Aichi, Japan)
University of Michigan Museum of Art (Ann Arbor, MI, USA)
Victoria & Albert Museum (London, UK)
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, VA, USA)