Born in Shizuoka in 1979. After graduating from Kyoto Seika University, he worked on wall and neriage (marbled clay) pieces at the studio of ceramic artist Yusuke Aida, before establishing his own studio in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture in 2006. He began working seriously with slipware in 2014, producing vessels with geometric patterns that play on the contrast between black slip and amber glaze. His studio name is "Tou Ashizawa."