TOSHIHIKO TSUJI

Toshihiko Tsuji, a ceramic artist, graduated from the Interior Design Department of Kyushu Zokei Junior College (now Kyushu Sangyo University Junior College of Art and Design) and went to the U.S. He studied at Chapman College, now Chapman University (Orange-city, State of California USA) in a language course. He then transferred to Fairleigh Dickinson University (Teaneck-city, State of New Jersey USA) to study in the Industrial Design Department before returning home in 1989.

For two years, he studied under Manji Inoue, a potter who is a Living National Treasure and is designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Property. In 1991, he began working with his father, Tsuji Takehiko, a potter, and in 1995, he exhibited his work for the first time at the Nitten Exhibition, where it was accepted for the first time, and has received numerous other awards. As of 2023, he has been selected 27 times for Nitten.

He has traveled to the United States, and many of his early ceramic works were inspired by the spectacular nature of Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon in the United States, as well as terraced rice fields and evening sunsets in Japan. Currently, he produces and exhibits ceramic panels and ceramic wall works that depict picturesque mental landscapes while using gradation in painting, mainly using Arita-yaki porcelain’s Gosu (some-tsuke) technique.

Awards and Exhibitions

  • 1995 Selected for the first time (“Poem of Rain”), Nitten (27 times since then, as of 2023)
  • 1995 Saga Newspaper Prize, Art Division, Kyushu-Yamaguchi Ceramic Exhibition (now Arita International Ceramic Exhibition) for “Rhythm of Rain”.
  • 1995 Asahi Shimbun Award, Medium Bowl “Asagao”, Industrial Division, Kyushu-Yamaguchi Ceramic Exhibition (now Arita International Ceramic Exhibition), Kyusyu-Yamaguchi, Japan.
  • 1996 Nishinippon Shimbun Award, Art Division, Kyushu-Yamaguchi Ceramic Exhibition (now Arita International Ceramic Exhibition), Japan.
  • 1996 Yomiuri Shimbun Award, Saga Prefecture Exhibition, Saga, Japan
  • 1996 Saga Art Association Exhibition, Saga Prefecture, Governor’s Prize
  • 1997 Saga Prefectural Governor’s Prize, Exhibition of Contemporary Crafts and Crafts Kyushu Association, Saga, Japan
  • 1998 Saga Prefecture Exhibition, Saga Prefecture Ceramic Art Association Prize
  • 2000 Third Prize, Kyushu-Yamaguchi Ceramic Exhibition (now Arita International Ceramic Exhibition), Art Division
  • 2000 Saga Art Association Exhibition, Excellent Prize of the Association
  • 2001 Director of Kyushu Ceramic Museum Prize, Exhibition of Contemporary Crafts in Kyushu, Japan
  • 2002 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Encouragement Prize (Highest Prize), Art Division, Kyushu-Yamaguchi Ceramic Exhibition (now Arita International Ceramic Exhibition) (for “Surfing”)
  • 2003 Newcomer’s Prize, Saga Bank Cultural Foundation
  • 2004 Exhibited at the Arita Ceramic Association Exhibition in Berlin, Germany (Meissen)
  • 2007 Yomiuri Shimbun Award, Industrial Division, Kyushu-Yamaguchi Ceramic Exhibition (now Arita International Ceramic
    Exhibition) (for “Wind Playing”)
  • 2010 Aoki Ryuzan Prize (Highest Prize), Exhibition of Contemporary Crafts and Arts, Kyushu, Japan
  • 2013 Awarded the Gendai Kogei Honin Member Prize, Japan Contemporary Art Crafts Exhibition, for “Kureshiki” (Late Colors)
  • 2016 Saga Arita Touring Exhibition, Japan Contemporary Art Crafts Exhibition, Saga Prefecture, Governor’s Prize
  • 2017 Juror, Japan Contemporary Art Crafts Exhibition, Japan (“Dynamism”)
  • 2021 Ceramic Jiho Prize, Arita International Ceramics Exhibition, Art Division (“Haruka”)
  • 2021 Invited to exhibit works by Newcomer Prize winners, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Saga Bank Cultural Foundation