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Yanagi was born in Tokyo into a wealthy aristocratic family. His mother was from the family of a Navy official, and his father, a member of the [[House of Peers]], was likewise a veteran rear admiral in the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]]. His father, who died less than two years after Sôetsu was born, was known for his expertise in hydrographic mapping, and for botany, poetry, and a number of other pursuits.

Yanagi was born in Tokyo into a wealthy aristocratic family. His mother was from the family of a Navy official, and his father, a member of the [[House of Peers]], was likewise a veteran rear admiral in the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]]. His father, who died less than two years after Sôetsu was born, was known for his expertise in hydrographic mapping, and for botany, poetry, and a number of other pursuits.

Yanagi attended the elite [[Gakushuin|Gakushûin]] Peers' School and [[Tokyo Imperial University]].

Yanagi attended the elite [[Gakushuin|Gakushûin]] Peers' School and [[Tokyo Imperial University]]. While a high school student at Gakushûin, he developed an interest in ''[[bingata]]'', as well as a friendship with [[Sho Sho|Shô Shô]], grandson of [[Sho Tai|the last king]] of the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]]. With Shô's help he planned a trip to Okinawa for 1921 or 1922, but as Shô's father [[Kazoku|Marquis]] [[Sho Ten|Shô Ten]] died suddenly in 1920, followed by Shô Shô himself in 1923, Yanagi was forced to cancel his trip. He would first visit Okinawa many years later, in 1938, alongside the potters [[Hamada Shoji|Hamada Shôji]] and [[Kawai Kanjiro|Kawai Kanjirô]]; they stayed for about three weeks, from December 1938 into the following January, after which Yanagi made three more trips to Okinawa over the course of 1939-1940, as a member of groups of craftsmen, photographers, publishers, and so forth. During his multiple brief visits to Okinawa, Yanagi absorbed much about [[Ryukyuan pottery|Okinawan pottery]], holding five special exhibitions of such materials in Tokyo, and organizing two documentary films. He also wrote numerous articles, special issues of the craft magazines ''Kôgei'' and ''Mingei'', and at least one monograph, focusing especially on the arts of Okinawa.<ref>Kikuchi, 142-143.</ref>

When visiting Okinawa, he compared the skyline and architecture of the royal capital of [[Shuri]], and the main commercial & port town of [[Naha]], to that of [[Heijo-kyo|Heijô-kyô]] ([[Nara]]) in the Tenpyô period ([[729]]-[[765]]), i.e. at its height; in other words, he saw in Okinawa a classical, ancient, aesthetic greatness that modern Japan had long-since moved past, and lost.<ref>Kikuchi, 143.</ref>

Yanagi latched onto Okinawan ceramics and [[Ryukyuan textiles|textiles]] in particular, taking this as model examples of his personal aesthetic ideals of beauty. That he lauded these as ''mingei'' ("folk art" or "the people's arts"), however, is ironic, since many of the particular forms he so embraced were in fact traditionally exclusive to the royal family and/or aristocratic class. This association of Okinawan arts with elite, rather than folk, aesthetics can be seen further in his comparison of the skyline and architecture of the royal capital of [[Shuri]], and the main commercial & port town of [[Naha]], to that of [[Heijo-kyo|Heijô-kyô]] ([[Nara]]) in the Tenpyô period ([[729]]-[[765]]), i.e. at its height; in other words, he saw in Okinawa a connection to the ancient, aesthetic greatness of a time when the Japanese Imperial family, and Imperially-commissioned architecture, were at their height. In his eyes, this was a classical greatness that modern Japan had long-since moved past, and lost.<ref>Kikuchi, 143.</ref>

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