White glaze jar with sgraffito (scratched) decoration

Born in 1924 in Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Yamada Hikaru studied ceramics at Kyoto Technological High School (1943-45), intending to assist his father who was a ceramicist and Buddhist priest. In 1948 Yamada joined the Shinshōkōgeikai and in the same year became a founding member, along with Kazuo Yagi and Osamu Suzuki, of the avant-garde Sodeisha (Crawling through Mud) group. In the 1950s he lost interest in the Chinese Song dynasty-style ceramics that had previously fascinated him, becoming interested instead in two-dimensional sculptural forms. He participated in various exhibitions, including those of the Japan Ceramic Associaton and the Tokyo and Kyoto Museums of Modern Art.