The "WESTERN POTTER" No. 18. April, 1970.

Instead of an editorial I am reprinting the following essay from "Tactile" with permission from Luke Lindoe, In his letter to me Mr. Lindoe said that"the message was particularly important to specific people in very particular times. I have waited for three years for the "particular" time when I felt that the cool, calm voice of Mr. Yanagi would help people on both sides of this particular fence." I feel I am one of the people for whom this essay is important-- and I[, too, think there will be others, ———— Editor

Foreword

The Archie Bray Foundation, in Helena, Montana, is a non-profit, educational organization founded, in the words of Archie Bray,

"to make available for all who are seriously and sincerely inter- ested in any of the branches of the ceramic art, a fine place to work." The Bray family generously supported it from its beginning in 1951 until it became self-supporting in 1961. It is known, nationally and internationally, for its contribution to the ceramic arts. The following paper is one of two delivered by Dr.Soetsu Yanagi, late director of the Museum of Folk-Crafts in Tokyo, during his visit to the Foundation with the world renowned potters, Bernard Leach of St.Ives, England and Shoji Hamada of Mashiko, Japan, in December, 1952. Both papers, with Dr. Yanagi's gracious permission, were published by the Foundation that same year, but have now been out of print for some time. The Founda- tion is reissuing Mystery of Beauty because it seems too important a statement to be lost, and also because it {s a way of again sommemorating the visit of these three men to the Foundation, We would like to thank Professor Eugene Garber, of the University of Iowa, who was kind enough to correct a number of textual errors found in the first edition.

Mystery of Beauty

In South Korea stands the village Ampo, a lonely hamlet, remote

from towns, To visit this village was a hope I had long cherished, for I had seen many examples of beautiful turnery (wood turning) ,