Japanese Art of the Heisei Period

An era with peace in its name

The Heisei period began in 1989 with the death of Emperor Hirohito and the accession of his son Akihito. The reign name Heisei means roughly “peace everywhere” or “achievement of peace” and was meant as a deliberate contrast to the wartime experience of the early Shōwa years. Indeed, Japan stayed out of direct military conflict throughout the era. It ended in 2019 with Akihito’s abdication – a historically unusual step, as Japanese emperors traditionally remain in office until death. The Reiwa period has run since then.

From boom to stagnation

The first years coincided with the peak of the “bubble economy,” a speculative bubble in real estate and stock markets that burst in the early 1990s. Decades of weak growth and deflationary tendencies followed, known in Japan simply as “the lost decades.” At the same time, mobile phones and the internet transformed daily life – a coexistence of technical progress and economic uncertainty in which the longing for permanence grew.

Disasters and a view of transience

The Great Hanshin earthquake in Kōbe in 1995 and, in 2011, the Tōhoku earthquake with the tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster cut deep into the collective consciousness. They prompted wide reflection on transience, vulnerability and rebuilding – themes close to the wabi-sabi aesthetic, which understands impermanence as part of beauty.

Craft as a counterweight

In uncertain times, traditional craft gained new meaning for many Japanese, younger people included: as an expression of permanence and reliability, and as a counterweight to short-lived mass goods. Ceramic centers such as Bizen, Hagi and Shigaraki benefited from growing appreciation, and the Mingei movement and the “Living National Treasures” drew new attention. Internationally, wabi-sabi, kintsugi and ikebana fed a new interest in Japanese aesthetics, and digital networks gave collectors outside Japan direct access.

Ceramics and porcelain of the period

The focus is on contemporary ceramics by potters whose work draws on old kiln traditions. These include teacups (yunomi) and sake cups (guinomi) in Oribe from Seto with flowing green glaze, chawan in Shino with a fine white diamond pattern or in raku with a bright orange glaze, sake cups from Seto, and porcelain: Kutani tea bowls with relief floral decoration, a Kutani sake set with peonies and a hand-painted Imari tea service. Oribe itself, which emerged in Mino in the early 17th century, was only revived in the 20th century.

Scrolls: Zen calligraphy, landscape, pilgrimage

Among the kakemono are Zen calligraphies by an abbot of Daitoku-ji in Kyoto, an extremely reduced depiction of Mount Fuji in the mist on silk, and a scroll with Kannon at its center, surrounded by the stamps of all 33 temples of the Saigoku pilgrimage. There are also decorative landscapes as silkscreens and prints after ink paintings attributed to Miyamoto Musashi. Whether hand-painted or printed is stated explicitly for every scroll.

Recent pieces, clear provenance

For works from recent decades, artist, workshop and origin can usually be documented well. The tomobako, a box of paulownia wood, generally bears the name of the work along with the artist’s signature and seal; it attests to origin and authenticity and should always stay with the piece. Here too, the period describes the object, while signature and seal record what is written on it.

In use and on display

Yunomi, chawan and guinomi are made to be used – for everyday tea, the tea ceremony or sake. Clean them only with hot water and a soft sponge, without detergent and never in the dishwasher, then let them air-dry completely. A kakemono is shown for a few weeks on a quiet wall with indirect light, dusted only dry with a soft brush and then rolled up and stored in its wooden box.