Tosaiga artist
Kazuhisa Kusaba
草場 一壽
Kusaba was born in Saga prefecture in 1960.
From an early age, he grew up with a strong interest in "life" such as animals and nature.
Saga is where one of the Japanese traditional ceramic arts named Arita ware, whose history goes back to the 17th century, has flourished. Except for 5 years until finishing junior high, Kusaba spent most of his childhood and youth at his homeland village, Takeo city, which is famous for Arita ware along with the neighboring Arita Town. Impressed by the traditional techniques of the local industry, he got the desire to create a brand new art form utilizing the Arita ware’s 400 year of traditions.
Kusaba knocked on many doors of potters sharing his vision of the ceramic painting to be rejected as a foolhardy undertaking. However, his belief that "painting a picture on porcelain would create an unprecedented brilliance and beauty" became stronger and stronger. Finally, Yuki Hayama, a ceramicist who was already famous for his precise and delicate painting, welcomed Kusaba’s idea as innovative and worth trying, and let him begin the study of “Tosaiga” in 1987.
In 1990, after trial and error, he established a new technique of repeating painting and firing. Since then, he has continued his research in search of deeper and more beautiful colors and brilliance, and the pottery painting "Ceramic Painting" was born as an original art.
In 2011, he created a firing technique in which the color changes depending on the viewing angle, and produced the ceramic painting "Toki wa Ima". Since then, this work has become his masterpiece of Kusaba.
Even now, more than 30 years after creating "Ceramic Painting", he continues to evolve as an artist, driven by his endless passion for expressing "life" as Kusaba's original art.
From an early age, he grew up with a strong interest in "life" such as animals and nature.
Saga is where one of the Japanese traditional ceramic arts named Arita ware, whose history goes back to the 17th century, has flourished. Except for 5 years until finishing junior high, Kusaba spent most of his childhood and youth at his homeland village, Takeo city, which is famous for Arita ware along with the neighboring Arita Town. Impressed by the traditional techniques of the local industry, he got the desire to create a brand new art form utilizing the Arita ware’s 400 year of traditions.
Kusaba knocked on many doors of potters sharing his vision of the ceramic painting to be rejected as a foolhardy undertaking. However, his belief that "painting a picture on porcelain would create an unprecedented brilliance and beauty" became stronger and stronger. Finally, Yuki Hayama, a ceramicist who was already famous for his precise and delicate painting, welcomed Kusaba’s idea as innovative and worth trying, and let him begin the study of “Tosaiga” in 1987.
In 1990, after trial and error, he established a new technique of repeating painting and firing. Since then, he has continued his research in search of deeper and more beautiful colors and brilliance, and the pottery painting "Ceramic Painting" was born as an original art.
In 2011, he created a firing technique in which the color changes depending on the viewing angle, and produced the ceramic painting "Toki wa Ima". Since then, this work has become his masterpiece of Kusaba.
Even now, more than 30 years after creating "Ceramic Painting", he continues to evolve as an artist, driven by his endless passion for expressing "life" as Kusaba's original art.
Chronology
- 1960 Born in Saga Prefecture, Japan.
- 1987 Began research into a new mode of expression, TOSAIGA, in Arita, Saga Prefecture.
- 1990 Opened Atelier Imagine, developing new techniques enabling repeated painting and firing processes.
- 1992 Created Chinju no Mori, a 20-meter ceramic mural, the largest of its kind in Japan.
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1996
Initiated exchange with the Dunhuang Academy of Art, China.
Featured on the NHK television program Living with Fire.
The work I Remember You was selected as a poster image for the film Ningen no Tsubasa. -
1998
Presented works at the Asian Craft Exhibition.
Visited the Mogao Caves, Western Thousand Buddha Caves, and Yulin Caves, including restricted areas. - 2002 Mizu no Bosatsu was installed at the Seattle Mariners’ spring training facility, USA.
- 2004 Opened the SAGA Gallery in Takeo, Saga Prefecture.
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2005
Authored the picture book Festival of Life (Inochi no Matsuri), published nationwide by Sunmark Publishing. The series became an exceptional long-selling bestseller for a picture book, with over 520,000 copies in circulation.
Later featured on NHK E-Tele program Television Picture Book. -
2006
Presented Daichōwa to the President of Mongolia.
Presented the same work to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. - 2008 The picture book Festival of Life received the National Kindergarten Picture Book Grand Prize.
- 2009 Festival of Life was selected for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair as a representative Japanese title.
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2011
Held a hospital art exhibition at Kanazawa Medical University.
Created major works including Heian and Toki wa Ima, incorporating iridescent color effects. -
2012
Supervised the design of an ossuary conceived as a prayer space themed on “life.”
Directed the documentary film The Earth is a Classroom. -
2013
Contributed artworks to the film Strawberry Night – Theatrical Version, including the iridescent dragon Heian and the abstract work Tōsui.
Dedicated Dainichi Nyorai / Kongōkai to Shiundō Hall at Fukushōji Temple, Wakayama. - 2016 Began holding regular solo exhibitions at Tō-ji Temple, Kyoto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- 2018 Four titles from the Festival of Life series were adopted for use in Japanese elementary school moral education textbooks.
- 2022 and 2023 The giclée work Hōjō no Megami – Lakshmi was exhibited at the Consulate-General and Embassy of India, commemorating the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Japan.
- 2024 Exhibited at World Art Dubai, The International Contemporary Art Fair (Monaco), and Salon de l’Art Japonais (France).
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2025
Commissioned to create Shishin, a fusuma painting (traditional Japanese sliding door), for the Main Hall of Ryūkōji Temple, Nagasaki.
Opened the concept store Dazaifu OKAMI in Dazaifu, Fukuoka.