Living National Treasure

Shimaoka Tatsuzo (1919 - 2007) was the foremost pupil of Hamada Shoji and regarded as one one of the most important modern potters. Shimaoka's signature style, known as "Jomon-zogan" in Japanese, combines cord-impressed decoration and the white-slip inlay technique used in the Punch'ong ware, popular in the Choson Dynasty of Korea. Shimaoka's use of a variety of glazes and also successfully developed a Western-influenced salt glaze technique that Hamada had first introduced.

For his mastery of the Jomon technique of rope-impressed stoneware, he was named a Living National Treasure in 1996. He was also an incredibly influential teacher of a new generation of ceramists.

His work is included in the ceramic collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Art Insitute of Chicago, LACMA, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and many other museums worldwide.