About one hundred and twenty years have passed since the terms "fine arts" and "handicraft" came to be used in Japan. Since then, these terms have been interpreted in various ways to this day. Does Japanese Kogei (handicraft) have the same meaning as handicraft does in Europe? According to the classification of European Aesthetics, handicraft is considered applied art or minor art as against paintings and sculptures which are considered pure art or major art. This is the point I would like to take up. Art Nouveau and Secession at the end of the nineteenth century, and Alois Riegl (1858-1905) of the Wien School had a different concept, and I, also, agree with their perception of art. The works and ideas on handicraft of Rokkaku, Shisui (1867-1950), an artist and scholar who built the foundation of modern Japanese handicraft, show that Japanese handicraft is not merely an applied or minor art. He was against the idea of uniformity in art, and tried to seek a different way of expression, attaching significance to one's "creative energy". Lively creations of art have appeared, closely related with everyday life, where no distinction has been drawn between the major and minor arts.
