Born in Kumamoto in 1964. He began studying ceramics at the Shiga Prefectural Shigaraki Ceramic Industry Research Institute in 1983, and in 1989 established Shunmei Kiln in Takashima, Shiga. He relocated and built a new kiln in Iga, Mie in 2015. Working with the theme of "the beauty of imperfection," he hand-builds using rough Iga clay that retains pebbles and iron particles. His signature work is "IGA BLUE," a one-of-a-kind blue born from the interaction of clay and glaze in the kiln. He also works with ash glaze, ki-seto, and a range of other glazes.