Since 1883 —
more than 140 years.
In Shippo-cho, Ama, Aichi — a town whose very name means "cloisonné" — the Tamura family has passed down its eye for shippo, its polished technique, and its will to keep challenging, generation after generation. Each work is one of a kind: an encounter that feels less like chance than destiny.
The kiln of Tamura Shippo
— five generations since 1883.
In 1883, Tamura Shippo built its kiln in Shippo-cho, Ama — the heartland of Owari cloisonné.
Ever since, five generations of the Tamura family have refined the same craft in the same place, renewing patterns and designs with each era in a single-minded pursuit of beauty.
Today, as one of the few remaining makers in the birthplace of shippo, the kiln of Tamura Shippo still burns.
Four makers, one inherited craft.
Takemasa Tamura
Born into the Tamura Shippo kiln as its fourth-generation successor. After studying oil painting at Tama Art University, he trained under his father, third-generation master Yukio Tamura. Exhibiting annually and honored with numerous awards, he has also created vases for the Imperial Household Agency. A maker who continues to hold tradition and innovation in the same pair of hands.
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Yuuki Tamura
The fifth generation of Tamura Shippo. She studied architecture at Musashino Art University, exploring design and ways of living, while also performing as a live-painting artist. After working across several fields, she began training under Takemasa Tamura in 2012 and launched her own brand in 2015. Her work has been selected for national traditional-craft exhibitions and received numerous awards; her solo exhibition "Cutting-Edge" was held in 2020.
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Miyuki Oota
A cloisonné artist. After studying oil painting at Tama Art University, she joined Tamura Shippo, where she has devoted herself to the craft ever since. Exhibiting every year, she has received the Aichi Governor's Award, the Tokyo Governor's Award and many other honors, and leads "Yamato Nadeshiko +", a group of female shippo artists.
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Nana Tamura
Raised close to plants and living things, she developed her sense of color through the shifting seasons of the natural world. She began creating cloisonné in earnest in 2020, refining her skills and sensibility under her father, Takemasa Tamura, and her mother, enamel artist Miyuki Oota, and continues to deepen her craft.
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