Toyozō Arakawa (1894–1985) was a leading ceramic artist of the Shōwa period, born in Tajimi City, Gifu Prefecture. After working at Kitanoji Rosanjin’s Hoshigaoka Kiln, in 1930 he discovered shards of Shino ware featuring bamboo shoot motifs at the site of an ancient kiln in Ōgaya, Kani City, Gifu Prefecture, thereby proving that Momoyama-period ceramics—including Shino, Kise-to and Seto-kuro—had been fired in the Mino region. Thereafter, he built a kiln in Ōgaya and devoted his life to the study and revival of Momoyama-period Shino and Seto-kuro. In 1955, he was designated a Holder of Important Intangible Cultural Properties (Living National Treasure) for Shino and Seto-kuro, and in 1971, he was awarded the Order of Culture.

Arakawa Toyozō’s works possess a generous and free-spirited aesthetic that, whilst inheriting the rustic and powerful beauty of Momoyama pottery, goes beyond mere imitation of ancient pieces. In his Shino tea bowls in particular, the reddish hues and kiln changes that appear on the soft white glaze, together with the fluid brushstrokes of the iron-painted designs, ensure that no two pieces are ever exactly alike. The profound appeal of Toyozō Arakawa’s work lies in his ability to embrace the serendipity of clay and fire, whilst sublimating it into his own artistic sensibility. His pieces possess the quiet presence unique to tea ceramics, their charm deepening the more one holds them in the palm of one’s hand and contemplates them.