KANETA Masano

Masanao Kaneta, born in the historic pottery town of Hagi on the Sea of Japan, is an eighth-generation potter who has redefined the legacy of Hagi-ware. Descended from a family whose kiln dates back to the 19th century, Kaneta grew up within one of Japan’s most enduring ceramic traditions. Yet from early on, he sought a new artistic language, one that moved beyond the functional tea ware that shaped Hagi’s 16th-century origins when Korean potters first brought their techniques to the region.

Trained in sculpture, wood carving, and ceramics at the Tokyo University of Education and the University of Tsukuba, Kaneta returned to Hagi with a vision to transform clay into expressive, sculptural forms. In the 1980s he embraced kurinuki, the hollow-carving method that became his signature, allowing him to chisel bold, geometric vessels from solid blocks of red clay. Covered in Hagi’s iconic white straw glaze and fired only twice a year in his wood-fired climbing kiln, Kaneta’s works embody a deeply personal, spiritual, and contemporary evolution of a centuries-old tradition.