The Heisei Era – Between the Bursting Bubble and Quiet Reflection

Few periods of recent Japanese history are as closely tied to the rise and fall of economic expectations as the Heisei era. It began with the peak of one of the most spectacular speculative bubbles in economic history and led into decades of economic stagnation that are still simply referred to in Japan today as "the lost decades." And yet this very period was, for traditional Japanese art and craft, a phase of remarkable reorientation – a return to permanence, craftsmanship, and quiet quality in a time of economic uncertainty.

Peace as a Program

The Heisei era lasted from 1989 to 2019 and began with the death of Emperor Hirohito and the enthronement of his son Akihito, who adopted the era name Heisei – a term that can be roughly translated as "peace everywhere" or "achievement of peace." The name reflected the wish for a stable, peaceful era that would deliberately set itself apart from the warlike experiences of the early Shōwa era.

From Boom to Stagnation

The early years of the Heisei era coincided with the peak of the so-called "bubble economy," an extraordinary speculative bubble in real estate and stock markets that collapsed in the early 1990s and plunged Japan into a prolonged period of economic stagnation. The following decades, often referred to as the "lost decades," were marked by weak economic growth and deflationary tendencies, further exacerbated by the global financial crisis of the 2000s. At the same time, Japan experienced rapid technological advances during this period, particularly in the fields of robotics and electronics, which significantly shaped the country's international image.

Disasters as a Trial

The Heisei era was also marked by several severe natural disasters that left a deep mark on Japan's collective consciousness: the devastating Great Hanshin earthquake of Kōbe in 1995, as well as the Tōhoku earthquake of 2011 and the ensuing tsunami, which triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster. These events not only left a lasting imprint on Japanese society, but also sparked heightened social reflection on impermanence, vulnerability, and reconstruction – themes that bear a remarkable closeness to the centuries-old philosophy of wabi-sabi, which regards impermanence as an integral part of beauty.

Traditional Crafts in Uncertain Times

Particularly in times of economic uncertainty, traditional Japanese crafts gained renewed significance for many Japanese people during the Heisei period – as a counterpoint to short-lived mass-produced goods and as an expression of permanence and craftsmanly reliability. Traditional ceramics centers such as Bizen, Hagi, or Shigaraki, whose techniques can in part be traced back to the pre-industrial era, benefited from a growing international as well as domestic appreciation of authentic, handcrafted objects. The Mingei movement, founded in the 20th century, as well as the system of "Living National Treasures," also experienced increasing public attention during the Heisei period, as traditional crafts came to be increasingly understood and promoted as cultural heritage. How naturally contemporary Japanese ceramics found their way into major collections during this period is shown by the Metropolitan Museum of Art: a cylindrical vase in pale blue glazed Seihakuji porcelain by Fukami Sueharu (b. 1947) and a black tea bowl by Tsujimura Shirō (b. 1947) from the year 2002, both attributed to the Heisei period (1989–2019).

Globalization of Japanese Aesthetics

Parallel to the domestic economic stagnation, Japanese culture experienced a remarkable international upswing during the Heisei period: manga, anime, but also traditional concepts such as wabi-sabi, kintsugi, or ikebana found a growing audience worldwide and contributed to a new global appreciation of Japanese aesthetics. This international opening also affected the trade in traditional Japanese art and ceramics, which increasingly found collectors and enthusiasts outside Japan, particularly in Europe and the USA. The old kiln traditions were also read anew in this process: the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art includes a two-tiered box with Oribe glaze by Suzuki Gorō (b. 1941) from around 1997.

The End of an Era

The Heisei era ended in 2019 with the abdication of Emperor Akihito – a historically extraordinary step, since Japanese emperors traditionally remain in office until their death. With the enthronement of his son Naruhito, the Reiwa era began, which continues to this day. The Heisei era thus leaves behind the image of an epoch that, despite economic challenges and severe disasters, brought forth a remarkable cultural continuity and a renewed appreciation for traditional craftsmanship.

A Generation Between Analog and Digital

The Heisei era also coincided with the rapid rise of digital technology, which transformed the everyday life of the Japanese just as fundamentally as the economic turbulence of those decades. From the first widely used mobile phone to internet access in nearly every household, Japanese society experienced, within a single imperial era, a technological transformation whose speed is quite comparable to the modernization of the Meiji era – albeit under entirely different economic circumstances. This simultaneity of technological progress and economic stagnation shaped a peculiar social climate in which a delight in innovation and a growing longing for stability and tradition balanced each other in a remarkable way.

It is precisely this ambivalence that explains why traditional Japanese crafts developed a new, often unexpected appeal for many younger Japanese during the Heisei era: as a deliberate counterpoint to an increasingly digitalized, short-lived everyday world, in which handcrafted objects with a long history represented an ever rarer, and all the more valuable, point of stillness. This longing for stability continues to shape, to this day and even beyond the official end of the Heisei era, the way many Japanese engage with traditional crafts.

A Name as a Program

The choice of the name Heisei was programmatic from the very beginning: unlike the militarily marked early Shōwa era, it was meant to explicitly stand for an era of peace, both internal and external. Indeed, Japan remained free of direct military conflict involvement throughout the entire Heisei era – a historically remarkable circumstance for a country whose preceding era had been so deeply marked by war. At the same time, Japan's international role fundamentally changed during this period: from a purely economically dominant nation of the late Shōwa era to a country whose cultural exports – from pop culture to traditional arts and crafts – increasingly shaped the international image of Japan.

For collectors and lovers of traditional Japanese art, the Heisei era also brought a noticeable opening of the international market: digital connectivity and global shipping made it possible, for the first time, for a broad international buyer base to gain direct access to handcrafted Japanese ceramics and painting, without having to take the arduous route via specialized antique dealers – a development that continues to this day and has considerably facilitated international exchange with Japanese arts and crafts.

At densho.de you will find handcrafted Japanese ceramics and painting that embody exactly the permanence that came to be newly valued during the Heisei era. Discover in our selection of Japanese art how timelessly good craftsmanship endures even in turbulent times. Anyone engaging with this era also understands why traditional craftsmanship gains particular importance in uncertain times. This lesson remains noticeable in many areas of Japanese society even beyond the official end of the era. This balance between economic uncertainty and cultural permanence makes the Heisei era a particularly instructive period of recent Japanese history. Anyone wishing to buy Japanese ceramics that embody exactly this permanence will find what they are looking for in our selection.

Sources and Literature

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Cylindrical Vase, Fukami Sueharu, Acc.-No. 2015.300.278, metmuseum.org.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Black tea bowl, Tsujimura Shirō, Acc.-No. 2003.485.5, metmuseum.org.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Two-tiered box with Oribe glaze, Suzuki Gorō, Acc.-No. 2015.442.1a–c, metmuseum.org.

Penelope Mason, revised by Donald Dinwiddie: History of Japanese Art. 2nd edition. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River 2005.