He went to Kyoto meaning to become a painter, but gave it up and became works manager of the Tozan kiln run by Tozan Miyanaga. Invited by Rosanjin Kitaoji, whom he met there, he moved in 1927 to the Nagaoka kiln at Kamakura. In 1933 he built at Ogaya a single-chamber anagama of the same kind as those of the Momoyama period. In 1946 he built the Suigetsu kiln at Tajimi. He threw himself into the study of old Chinese and Japanese ceramics and the revival of Momoyama tea-ware technique, and in time brought to maturity a body of work of his own that went beyond reproducing the old. In 1955 he was named a Living National Treasure for Shino and Kiseto. He received the Order of Culture in 1971, and in the same year opened the Toyozo Museum.