DEPARTMENT OF CRAFTS

Department of Crafts
Basic Craft｜Metal Carving｜Metal Hammering｜Metal Casting｜
Urushi-Art (Japanese Lacquer) ｜Ceramics｜Textile Arts｜Material Arts (Woodworking & Glass)

Established in 1889 as the Art-Crafts Course (including metal and Urushi works) of the Tokyo Arts School, the Department of Crafts was reorganized in 1975 into an institution offering both basic and specialized knowledge in the following areas of study: Metal Carving, Metal Hammering, Metal Casting, Urushi-Art (Japanese Lacquer), Ceramics, and Textile Arts. The Woodworking and Glass courses were established in 1995 and 2005, respectively.

From 2018, Woodworking was reorganized into Urushi-Art (Urushi-Art & Woodworking), and Glass into Ceramics (pottery & porcelain & Glass), and the university started offering undergraduate education in Woodworking and Glass as well. Furthermore, Woodworking and Glass were merged to establish Material Arts (Woodworking & Glass) from 2022, which will promote education and research mainly at the Toride Campus.

The undergraduate program consists of seven courses, while the graduate program comprises 14 studios. The system encourages students to work in the field of their choice, always seeking to encourage their talent in an environment that stresses creative freedom.

Both art and its role change over time. The spirit and techniques of crafts, based on a historical tradition, correspond to one of the most familiar arts, steadily brightening people’s lives throughout the times. Craft objects made with carefully selected materials and drawing on traditional techniques offer inspiration in our daily lives.

The Department of Crafts seeks to train artists capable of assimilating the sets of values and the technologies of a contemporary society that continues to fragment and diversify through instruction in basic techniques that permit each individual to develop his or her talents. We seek to develop creativity and practical skills by offering personalized instruction through a small group policy that focuses on the creation of craft objects.

The Department of Crafts also works to enhance international exchange and regional cooperation through social and research activities imbued with the spirit of the department.

During their first year, students are enrolled in the Crafts Laboratory, where they engage in a wide range of education to cultivate the basic skills necessary for each specialized field, and to develop basic expression capabilities and formative sensibilities related to the fine arts and crafts field as a whole.

At the Ueno campus, in addition to hands-on practical training in crafts, instructors from other departments are invited to expose students to a variety of techniques and values, creating a curriculum that cultivates a multifaceted perspective and comprehensive creative capabilities. Students will experience the appeal of materials and techniques unique to a specialized field through hands-on production under the guidance of instructors in each specialized field. Students choose their field of study from the second year onwards based on one year’s worth of experience. From the second year onwards, students are divided into various fields with the aim of establishing self-expression through the acquisition of specialized skills, and to develop them into human resources who can play active roles in their respective fields in the future.

Making Happi (Japanese festival clothing) and a huge Mikoshi (a portable shrine) for “Geisai” (school festival in autumn) constitutes one of the most significant projects for first-year students. First-year students from the departments of Art and Music join hands to create Happi and Mikoshi for this festival. Through this cooperation, students gain a special understanding, experience, and relationships which they otherwise would not from working individually.

From the second-year, students are trained at the Ueno campus. Faculty members in each field instruct students in the specific materials and techniques used in different fields. Students split up from the second semester to concentrate in one specialty of their choice.

>> Craft Course Official website (Japanese)

Faculty: The acquisition of the basic crafts practices and research related to the fine arts is conducted, and expression skills are nurtured. Individuals who can comprehensively contribute to society as excellent craftspersons are nurtured, and based on acquired technical skills, education is extensively developed.?
In the first year and the first term of the second year, the fundamental expression skills and creative sensibilities related to the domain of basic crafts are nurtured. From the second term of the second year, students explore their individual expression skills through the acquisition of technical expertise based on the sub-domains in each department.

Master: The goal is to foster the acquisition of individualized creative expression in crafts and advance creative research in each specialized field while nurturing individuals who can widely disseminate their art to society.

Doctor: The objective is for students who have acquired the Master’s degree to further expand their knowledge of advanced specialized research and establish creative expression and theories in crafts from an international perspective.

Faculty: The Bachelor’s degree is awarded once the specified class credits have been acquired, the curriculum policy has been fulfilled, and after the final assessment has been conducted for the graduation work.

Master: The Master’s degree is awarded once research with the creative work is advanced in conjunction with the individual research themes under the guidance of a supervisor in the concerned research field and teaching staff in related fields and the final assessment has been conducted for the completed creative work.

Doctor: The doctoral degree is awarded once the Thesis Review Committee comprising the supervisor in the concerned research field and the faculty in related fields has conducted a review and assessment of the creative work and dissertation.

*The first year:

The first semester begins with a unique molding practice taught by the Department of Crafts instructor, and then students will select three of the following six fields: Metal Carving, Metal Hammering, Metal Casting, Urushi-Art (Japanese Lacquer), Ceramics, and Textile Arts, or Material Arts (Woodworking & Glass), and then engage in practical work using actual materials. In the second semester, modeling practice will be held by instructors from the Department of Sculpture, and painting sessions will be held by instructors of Japanese Painting and Oil Painting.

The course has a wide variety of content that allows students to learn basic molding skills over the course of one year, while experiencing expression techniques and values in a variety of fields, and is aimed towards a more fulfilling creation by placing students in the historical place of Ueno where there is a large number of instructors and senior students.

In the first year of study, all instructors in the Department of Crafts offer a required class, the “Theory of Craft Production,” in which each instructor gives a lecture while discussing the essence of crafts through creative activities.

? ? The Metal Carving Course has left its mark on university history since its establishment as a metalworking course at the founding in 1887 of the Tokyo Fine Arts School, the predecessor of the Tokyo University of the Arts Faculty of Fine Arts. Its first professor, Natsuo Kano, was named a Teishitsugigein by the Emperor in honor of his achievements, the highest honor in the world of arts and crafts at the time, granting him Imperial protection. Shomin Umino, also awarded Teishitsugigein status and named professor, made available to the public a large number of traditional Japanese metal-carving techniques accumulated since the Muromachi Period and jealously guarded up to that time, systematizing these techniques as part of the school’s program of instruction. He left behind numerous metal plates prepared for instructional purposes, which even today are used to instruct students in classes on basic techniques. These metal-carving techniques, of which the course can be proud, have been passed down continually over time, ceaselessly leading to new expression and new creation and helping train superior metal carvers by emphasizing the possibilities inherent in materials.

Beginning with preparation of tools such as cold chisels, the course examines traditional techniques such as engraving, chasing, inlaying, binding, cloisonné, and metal coloring; addresses basic issues to deepen student understanding of materials; and provides highly specialized guidance in areas such as metal-carving techniques and jewelry. This instruction is informed by an awareness of current trends in living space interiors. Based on these activities, students gradually acquire advanced knowledge and skills, creating works while learning about what forms creative expression can take and how to express themselves in their works, examining genres such as personal accessories and objets d’art. The program develops graduates capable of thriving in the process of creating new types of individuality, armed with powerful expressive techniques.

? ? The courses of instruction for undergraduate education seek to develop graduates capable of thriving by creating a wide range of works for today’s society and living spaces, from traditional crafts through three-dimensional works, jewelry, and other articles. In addition to learning various metal-carving techniques, traditional and otherwise, by pursuing assigned works, students also gain a comprehensive knowledge of various methods for handling metal with sensitivity, including creating new tools, when necessary, as well as adding to a growing store of experience with various materials.

Each student is gui