- 1961
- Born in Suita, Osaka Prefecture
Lives and works in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture
“I was 19 and leading a life utterly removed from the world of pottery. A chance glance of a photo of a mysterious object shook me as nothing ever had. I learned that the photo was of a work of Japanese pottery made hundreds of years ago. A few days later, I visited an antique pottery shop in Tokyo’s Nihombashi district to purchase a comparable item. The shop owner laughed and informed me that works like the one in question don’t come around very often. “And if one did turn up,” he continued, “I would cost more than $10 million.” That only deepened the shock I had experienced on seeing the photo. Undeterred, I examined further the questions posed by pottery, and making pottery had soon become my vocation, which it remains. How I became preoccupied with pottery remains a mystery. Work by other potters accounts for most of the items on view in my studio. My mottos: “Beware of events” and “In every stumble arises opportunity.” And my guiding principle in pottery making: “Audacious and shameless.”
