Woodblock print artist. Born in Aomori. In 1928 prints of his were selected for the eighth exhibition of the Japan Creative Print Association and the sixth Shunyokai exhibition, and an oil painting was selected for the ninth Teiten. From about this time his interest turned to prints and he began to work seriously in woodblock. In 1936 he came to know Soetsu Yanagi, Kanjiro Kawai and others of the mingei movement, which had a great influence on his art thereafter. In 1938 he received a special prize at the second Shin-Bunten, and in 1941 the fifth Saburi Prize. In 1952 he won a prize at the second Lugano international exhibition of black and white, left the Japan Print Association and formed the Japan Print Institute. In 1955 he won a prize at the third São Paulo Biennial, and in 1956 the international grand prize for prints at the twenty-eighth Venice Biennale. In 1960 he held solo exhibitions across America. He received the Order of Culture in 1970.