present Professor of Kyoto City University of Arts, Department of Crafts
2000 Fellowship to study in England under the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists (1 year)
1987 Graduated from postgraduate program, Kyoto City University of Arts
1985 Graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts
1961 Born in Osaka, Japan
Solo Exhibitions
2019 Urushi: Rebirth, Keiko Art International
2015 Akasaka Yu Gallery, Tokyo
2014 Gallery Kaede, Osaka
2005 Gallery Kunugi, Tokyo
2004 Takashimaya Art Gallery, Tokyo, Kyoto
1998 EXHIBITION SPACE, Tokyo International Forum
1993 Sasakawa Peace Foundation U.S.A., Gallery, Washington, D.C. , U.S.A.
1992 Gallery Kouki, Paris, France
1991 Gallery KURANUKI, Osaka (1993.1996.1999)
1989 Shibuya Seibu Art Gallery, Tokyo(1992)
1988 Esses Gallery, Tokyo
1986 Art Space Niji, Kyoto (1989)
1984 Gallery Suzuki, Kyoto
Group Exhibitions
2015 Nippon! Contemporary Arts and Crafts from Japan, ESH Gallery, Milan, Italy
Dialogue with Materials: Contemporary Japanese Arts an Crafts, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey
2014 URUSHI: Couleurs et formes des Laques, Japonaises contemporaines, Yakimono galerie, Paris
Dialogue with Materials: Contemporary Japanese Arts an Crafts, Ahmed Adnen Saygun Sanat Merkezi, Izmir, Turkey
2013 Introducing Contemporary Lacquer, Keiko Art International
2011 PLAY/PRAY, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
2009 SOFA NEW YORK, New York. U.S.A.
DOMANI, The National Art Center, Tokyo
2008 Art and Antiques Dubai, Dubai, U.A.E.
SOFA CHICAGO, Chicago, U.S.A.
2007 The International Asian Art Fair 2007, New York. U.S.A.
The International Art and Design Fair, New York. U.S.A.
2006 The International Asian Art Fair, New York. U.S.A.
ART SYDNEY 06", Sydney, Australia.
Japan & Korea Urushi exhibition, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo.
Transfiguration: Japanese Art Jewelry Today, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
Japanese Cool 2, Lesley Kehoe Galleries, Melbourne. Australia
2005 Japanese Cool, Lesley Kehoe Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
2004 New Urushi Forms - Three Lac quer Artists from Japan -, Museum of Craft & Folk Art, San Francisco, U.S.A.
2003 The Art of Japan-Tradition & Transformation-, Dennos Museum Center, Northwestern Michigan College, U.S.A.
2002 Exhibition of Japanese Art Featuring, Consulate of Japan, Australia
2000 Oxford Art Festival, Oxford , U.K.
VISION, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
1999 A Grand Design, Victoria & Albert Museum, London , U.K.
1997 International Art Exhibition A Inside, Kassel, Germany
1996 The vision of Contemporary Art, The Ueno Royal Museum
1995 Japanese Studio Crafts Tradition and the Avant-garde, Victoria & Albert Museum, London , U.K.
1994 Koshimizu, Kurimoto-Beyond the Sculpture, Form and Color, Otani Memorial Art Museum, Hyogo
Japanese Design, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
1986 Exhibition of the Suntory Prize'89, Suntory Museum, Tokyo
Collections/ Public Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, U.S.A.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, USA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA USA
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, U.K.
Kyoto City University of Arts / Argentina Museum of Modern Art
Asia & Pacific Trade Center, Osaka / Awanosato Art Forum, Tokushima
Kyoto Prefecture / Sakura Art Museum, Osaka
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
It has been more than thirty years since I first time came across the material, Urushi (lacquer). The more I get to know it, the more I become fascinated by the marvel of the material.
Japanese Lacquer work (Shitsugei) is an art form created with the tree sap from Urushi trees as its base. Urushi art work can be created by paining Urushi sap on various materials or penetrating through them.
I always feel that Urushi sap is just like blood for human beings.
Urushi Sap is the source of the life of Urushi trees. So long as I receive the life of trees from Urushi trees and use it as the materials of my work, it is no use if I don’t create a new life through my work. This is, I believe, what my work is coming from.
For this exhibition, I created several colorful wall-hanging pieces and boxes with the combinations of colour lacquer and mother of pearl technique called Raden zaiku. I hope you will enjoy the beauty of decorative art of Urushi.
