Kawakita Handeishi (1878-1963)
川喜田半泥子

Kawakita Handeishi was born in Osaka into a wealthy family. The family businesses included cotton trade, electric, insurance and banking. His growing up was strongly influenced by art, poetry and Japanese tea ceremony. He started making pottery around 1912 when he built a Raku style kiln in his yard. He had received no formal training. Kawakita referred to himself as an amateur, and his works do lack technical proficiency, but they are in keeping with an "amateur tradition" that dates back to the great Koetsu Honami (1558-1637). He studied and learned by constantly inviting all his famous friends over to make pottery in his kilns, among them were professional potters like Arakawa Toyozo, Kato Toukuro, Koyama Fujio. Pottery making was a joyous leisure art for Handeshi; he only produced what amused him.

References:
Chihaya Koichiro: Kawakita Handeishi. Mucha no Gei, Tokyo: Nigensha, 2007.
Exhibition Catalogue Nagoya 1999, Art Salon Kogen, January.
Exhibition Catalogue Osaka 1992, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, January 7th-February 23
Handeishi's signature and seal, see: Encyclopedia of Signatures and Seals (落款花押大辞典 Rakkan Kao Daijiten), Kyoto 1982, p.396.