Born in Tokyo in 1919, Shimaoka Tatsuzo graduated from the ceramics department of Tokyo Kogyo Daigaku [Tokyo Industrial University], moving after the war to the town of Mashiko in Ibaraki Prefecture where he became a student of Shoji Hamada, one of the founding fathers of the Mingei [Folk Craft] movement. In 1954 Shimaoka started his own kiln, maintaining a consistently high standard during a period when other kilns in the town became more commercialised. The most significant event in Shimaoka's creative life was his encounter with ceramics from Jomon period. After many unsuccessful attempts to reinterpret Jomon designs in a manner that was sympathetic to Mingei ideals, Shimaoka eventually achieved a fusion of Jomon pattern-making with the Korean tradition of impressed slip decoration, as seen in the work offered here. He was also influenced by traditional English ceramics. Shimaoka received the Nihon Mingeikan [Japan Folk Crafts Museum] Prize in 1962 and in 1996 he was named Mukei Bunkazai Hojisha [Holder of an Important Intangible Cultural Property], a position better known by its popular title Ningen Kokuho [Living National Treasure].