Born into a family of potters in Higashi-Kasugai District, Aichi Prefecture (now Seto City). His given name was Shokuro Kano; he later took his grandmother’s surname and changed his name to Tokuro Kato. Giving up the running of a pottery business, from 1927 he devoted himself to working as an independent potter. In 1929 he formed the Seto Old Kiln Survey and Preservation Society and became a standing director. In 1931 his “Kiseto Vase with Fish Design” was selected for the Teiten at his first attempt. In 1947 he became a director of the Japan Ceramic Society, and the following year founded the Japan Ceramic Art Association and became its chairman. In 1952 he was certified as a holder of the Oribe technique, an intangible cultural property. In 1954 he formed the Tori-kai with Toyozo Arakawa, Munemaro Ishiguro, Hajime Kato and Toyo Kaneshige. In 1960, after the affair of the “Einin jar”, he resigned all public posts and gave himself to his work. He continued to make ceramics in thrall to Momoyama tea ware, and in his last years in particular his sensibility came fully into the open. In 1965 he received the Mainichi Art Grand Prize. His many writings include the “Dictionary of Ceramics”.