Kazumi Murose (born in 1950 - designated in 2008) is a Makie Urushi lacquer artist, a craft that he learned from his father, himself an Urushi artist. Murose is dedicated to restoration work during the day and to his personal creations in the evening. He established the Mejiro Institute of Urushi Conservation, to preserve and transmit this artistic craft to the next generations. Murose's style is characterised by the artful representation of the movement of wind and water.
Noboru Fujinuma (born in 1945 - designated in 2012) is a Bamboo artist. He started his career as a photographer. After a trip to Paris, he changed direction and chose to study the art of Bamboo. After serving an apprenticeship with Keizo Yagisawa, Fujinuma breathed fresh air in the bamboo craft industry, with his innovative style and his modern, dynamic approach.
Common threads connect the four living National Treasures. Firstly, the strong relation to nature that underlies their creative process. Furthermore, they are all involved in transmitting this important heritage to the generation of the future: “Tradition is not a lore. We do not simply hand down a technique; what counts is the power of creativity that transforms tradition.
Our works, new today, will become a tradition for the next generation. The chain becomes the tradition.” The preservation of natural materials, growing scarcer, is also an important issue for the four masters.
Isezaki, Moriguchi, Murose and Fujinuma belong to Nihon-Kogeikai (The Japan Crafts Association) whose purpose is to make known to the world the traditional techniques of Japanese “KOGEI” (Craft) through their magnificent work, that conveys their message and possesses the vital essence that they would like to pass on to the future generations.