Tokuda Junko (Yasokichi IV) 徳田 順子 (四代 八十吉)

Tokuda Junko (Yasokichi IV) was born in 1961, the first child of future Living National Treasure Tokuda Masahiko. While traveling in the United States in her mid-20s, she encountered a porcelain piece from Jingdezhen, China, which drew her back to the family’s artistic tradition. She graduated from the Institute for Kutani in 1990 and began her career as an artist. In 2010, upon her father’s passing, she succeeded to the family name, becoming one of the very few female heads of a traditional Japanese pottery lineage.