Kyoto ceramic artist Shin Fujihira creates works imbued with a childlike glee and an overflow of intelligent -- rather than intellectual -- energy that it's impossible not to fall in love with. The man, as a favorite singer of mine says, "has sharpened his sense of wonder" to the point of supreme refinement.

Fujihira has been compared with the great wandering poets of the past such as Saigyo or Basho. Find out why at a Fujihira mini-retrospective comprising 82 pieces from the 1970s until the present that is running until Feb. 27 at the wonderful Musee Tomo in Tokyo.

Fujihira, who was born in 1922, hails from one of Japan's most famous pottery areas, the Gojozaka district in Kyoto. As a young boy he would follow his big brother over to the house of the legendary late mingei giant Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966) to watch him at work -- as well as to enjoy the snacks laid out for the brothers.