Hon'ami Kōetsu (; 1558 – 27 February 1637) was a Japanese craftsman, potter, lacquerer, and calligrapher, whose work is generally considered to have inspired the founding of the Rinpa school of painting. Robert Hughes of Time Asia wrote that in Japan, Kōetsu is "a national treasure several times over, about as famous there as Benvenuto Cellini is in the West", even though in the United States he is "scarcely known". Early life Kōetsu was born into a family of sword polishers and connoisseurs who had served the imperial court as well as such major warlords of the Sengoku period (1467–1603) such as Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga. For generations, the Hon'ami family had been devotees of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism. Kōetsu's great-grandfather, Hon'ami Honkō (Kiyonobu), became a devout follower of the Nichiren priest Nisshin. Thereafter, the Hon'amis became important patrons of the temple founded by Nisshin, Honpō-ji (Kyoto), and Koetsu would continue this relationship of his family with that temple. Kōetsu's grandfather was counted as one of the "companions and advisors" (同朋衆, dōbōshū) of Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Kōetsu's father, Hon'ami Kōji (d. 1603), received a regular stipend from the Maeda family, in payment for his services as a sword connoisseur. Kōetsu would continue this relationship of his family with the Maeda, and with their domain in Kaga Province; he would advise the Maeda on swords, paintings, and other art objects. Kōetsu would meet many members of the art community through his connections with the Maeda, including tea master Kobori Enshū. Kōetsu would also develop a close relationship with the Nō theater, and with the Kanze family of actors who lived near the Hon'ami family compound in northern Kyoto. He may have performed in Nō productions as a chanter, and designed a number of works for use by the actors or the theater. Skills Although trained as a swordpolisher (not a "swordsmith" in the standard Western sense; in Japan the tasks of forging and finishing a blade are performed by different craftsmen), Hon'ami became accomplished in pottery, lacquer, and ceramics as a result of his interest in Japanese tea ceremony, which had been revived and refined only a few decades earlier by Sen no Rikyū. In this art, he is regarded as one of the top pupils of the tea master Furuta Oribe and of the style known as Raku ware. Koetsu was given clay by Donyu II, the grandson