Kiyomizu Rokubey VII 七代 清水六兵衞 1922-2006

Based in Kyoto since the mid-Edo period, the Rokubey family (also spelled Rokubey) has sustained its through continual ceramic reinvention across 8 generations. The seventh Rokubey (1922–2006) was born in Nagoya as the third son of the Tsukamoto family. He studied architecture at Nagoya Technical School and metal casting at Tokyo University of the Arts. 

In 1951, he became the adopted heir to the sixth Rokubey, and entered the field of ceramics. Unlike his predecessors, his formative training lay not in painting but in architecture and metalwork. In his early practice, under the name Hiroshi, he produced works that explored the materiality of clay through thick-walled forms, flattened vessels, and deliberately distorted shapes. These works exerted a transformative influence, articulating a critical stance toward the conventions of ceramic production grounded in rationality and efficiency. 

However, he later developed an aversion to what he perceived as the excessive expressiveness of clay, and in the late 1960s he turned to metal sculpture under the name Kiyomizu Kyūbei, becoming one of Japan’s leading sculptors. Following the sudden death of the sixth Rokubey in 1980, he assumed the name of the seventh and resumed ceramic production. His mature works are based on slab construction, integrating apertures, cuts, and incisions, with restrained surface treatment that emphasizes the movement of clay during firing. In this way, the expressive qualities inherent in clay—so distinct from the reticence of metal—are allowed to emerge directly as form.