Philosopher of the Taisho and Showa eras and founder of the mingei (folk craft) movement. From Tokyo; graduated from Tokyo Imperial University. In 1910 he became a member of the Shirakaba circle and came to know Bernard Leach. Finding beauty in the crafts of ordinary life, he coined the word “mingei” and began the movement. His studies crossed the frame of East and West, from English and American literature to the cultures of the Ainu, Okinawa and Taiwan. In 1924 he founded the Korean Folk Art Museum in Seoul, and in 1936 opened the Japan Folk Crafts Museum and became its director. With Shoji Hamada and Kanjiro Kawai he worked to spread mingei, and founded the magazine “Kogei”. Person of Cultural Merit, 1932. His writings include “Bi no Homon”.