Potter. After graduating from the Tokyo Higher Technical School in 1916 he worked mainly on glazes at the Kyoto Municipal Ceramic Testing Institute with Kanjiro Kawai. In 1920 he travelled to England with Bernard Leach, who was returning there, and worked at building a kiln and making pots. He afterwards studied at the Tsuboya kilns in Okinawa and elsewhere, and from 1930 worked at Mashiko in Tochigi Prefecture. He favoured simple forms thrown almost entirely on the hand wheel, with bold patterns drawn in flowing glaze. He is also known for his commitment to the mingei movement in the line of Soetsu Yanagi. Designated a Living National Treasure; Order of Culture, 1968.