In 1914 he entered the training school attached to the Kyoto Municipal Ceramic Testing Institute and was taught by Shoji Hamada. In 1921 he became a workshop assistant to Kenkichi Tomimoto in Nara. He was thereafter influenced by Tomimoto’s principle of “not making pattern out of pattern”, and drew thistles, grapes, pomegranates and mountains from his own sketches in a bold indigo brush. Member of the Shinshokai; Medal with Purple Ribbon, 1970; in 1977 designated a Living National Treasure for the technique of underglaze blue.