In 1946，1 was a student of Japanese painting at a school of fine arts．However．that was during the immediate postwar period，when Japan was in turmoil and impoverished．Food，also，was in short supply. Under these circumstances，I terminated my studies and began working as an assistant to my father, a ceramist, making ceramic ware to help support our large family. That wasthe beginning of my life in ceramics．

In 1947，I took part in formation of the ceramic art research group，Shikokai，and started on my own creative work．Around that time，Japanese ceramic art as a whole was tipped steeply towards academic thinking. Seeking new concepts that tended more towards free expression，I sought to create objects that communicated directly with the human psyche，and resolved to turn away from the hitherto container—based world of ceramics. In the midst of a dark era．this was a great dream about uncultivated territory，and I had high hopes．It was thebeginning of summer in 1948．

While researching in daily life the old ceramic ware from Japan and abroad，I received stimulus and influence powerful enough to rock the spirit，from fresh currents in contemporary fine arts that washed in from abroad after the war．We were in an age of freedom, in which resurrection of humanity had become one of the great issues of society．Amid day—to—day production of ceramics，this stimulus gave the energy for development of specific approaches．Setting humankind(the physical body)at the heart of ceramic creation，I gradually built an expressive style upon abstract images derived from the chokkomon design(a Japanese design of the 3 rd~5th centuries，featuring a complex interlacing of straight lines and arcs-sometimes referred to as Japanese cubism). I established this approach early on and long continued to work along similar lines. In the early stages, I used several kinds of glazes, and made works highlighting the colors of the earth. In the 1960s, as I began using only the Red color of the clay，form became everything. Furthermore, with enactment of environmental regulations in the 1960s， the climbing kilns used for such a long part of Japanese history were abolished.  It was a period of transition that affected changes in the relationship of people, earth and fire, as electricity. gas and other methods came into use for firing of works.

The Chokkomon design has geometrical and mathematical elements-elements that are extremely important in figurative art. Aesthetic works receive acclaim for a limited period. Often, they are forgotten with the transitions of time. However，works imbued with mathematical elements are thought to possess universality.

 In 1980, to derive greater benefit from the electric kiln and to reexamine the origins of shape．I based a series of works on simple and unembellished cubic forms. In the process of drawing such cubic forms．I discovered a mysterious space developing in between visual certainty and uncertainty. This revived visions of my time as a pilot during the war. when 1 would fly sometimes in a stat-filled night sky, and sometimes in a night sky that was black as ink. That black space was truly in the nature of a visual illusion, and the mystery of that illusion applies also to ceramics．In works dressed and glazed entirely in black，I endeavored to create shadows in themidst of blackness，and to express that illusory space by creating a multi-dimensionaI body within a solid object, It represented a union of sculptural thought and painting thought．Examples of such a union are in images of my works used for a mathematics and ceramics exhibition(1998)organized by a mathematician(German), and in opera stage art(2001，France)．

Yuan Hong-dao(Ming Dynasty, China)said that each era has characteristics unique of its own as pursued for change and refinement. What is important is to seek, guided by one’s own personality, but by no means turning to imitation. The past had its days, and the present now has its day. Learn the words of the people of the past, but do not rest on them, as after all they are the past.