The Mingei Movement and World Crafts

This chapter reconsiders the mingei (folk crafts) movement, founded in 1920s Japan under Yanagi Muneyoshi , in its global rather than merely national dimensions. While often linked to cultural nationalism and imperial expansion, mingei also drew deeply on international exchanges—through Bernard Leach, encounters with English Arts & Crafts, Swedish folk traditions, and later postwar transnational networks. From early collaborations with Hamada Shōji and Leach to postwar exhibitions and publications such as Folk Crafts of the World, Bru argues that mingei operated as both an assertion of Japanese identity and an exploration of a shared, universal craft aesthetic.