Start Date: 17-April-2026
End Date:
I don’t remember who recommended this book, or why. But I do remember the quiet certainty I felt last year that this was a book I had to read. I had written to my neighborhood bookstore, only to learn they didn’t have it in stock. They said they could place an order with their distributor if I really wanted it. I did. Two days later, the manager called to say it had arrived. I left work early that day and went straight to the store, hoping to make it before closing. The manager - a kind, elderly gentleman - handed me the book and wished me a happy reading. The manager, a kind and elderly gentleman, gave me the book and wished me a happy reading. This was a few months ago and the book has been collecting dust since then.
I finally opened it two days ago, on a flight home to Bhopal. Somewhere between takeoff and landing, I managed to read about forty pages. I had been tired through most of the journey, but Yanagi-san’s impassioned plea to recognize folk craft as a legitimate form of art cut through that fatigue and stayed with me.
Let me sum up what I have read so far.
Yanagi begins by explaining what folk craft, or mingei (in Japanese) means. The craft refers to the creation of everyday objects used by ordinary people on a daily basis.