6.  Asuka Tsuboi  明日香 坪井

Asuka Tsuboi was born in Osaka in 1932 and  died in Kyoto in 2022. After her high school education at the prestigious Jiyu Gakuen in 1953, she continued her training in glazing and decoration at the Sennyu-ji Yusai Koubou in Kyoto after which she completed her training with Living National Treasure Kenkichi Tomimoto.  Asuka Tsuboi began her career in ceramics in Kiyomizu, Kyoto in the 1950s, when there were few female ceramic artists. As a pioneer, she developed a unique form of expression, and in 1957 she founded the "Joryū Tōgei" (Women's ceramic Group) with about six other women ceramists. Together they formed the first generation of women ceramicists. Since 1967, 'Joryū Tōgei' has held public exhibitions to highlight and nurture the work of women potters, playing the role of gateway to success for subsequent generations of women ceramists, including Fujikasa Satoko (see No. 1) and Fujino Sachiko (No. 7), for more than sixty years. Asuka Tsuboi is inspired by the beauty of soft, ancient cloth and the sharpness of paper, a fascination that shows in her works. In her own words, "I feel as though our joys and sorrows - the pattern of human life - are all revealed there." So her work is not just pure beauty and elegance, and that makes it captivating to many. As such, she has received much appreciation for her work and received the Kyoto City Distinguished Service Award in 2014. Her work has been included in the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza,Italy and the Ariana Museum in Geneva, among others.

Old Kyoto, Kogei Kyoto Association