Biography

Painter. Born in Aichi Prefecture. In 1908, graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts. The following year, married Hisa Akahori (haiku-poet Hisajo Sugita). Moved to Kokura, and became an art teacher at the Fukuoka Prefectural Kokura High School. In 1922, the couple were baptized as Christians. In 1946, after his wife died of illness, he retired from being a teacher and moved back to his hometown. In 1954, he was awarded the Person of Educational Merit from then Kokura City. He distanced himself from creative activities when he became a teacher and committed his time to art education. As a devoted educator, he greatly contributed to the development of art in Kitakyushu. The students he taught included painter Shigeteru Kusume, who moved to France and studied under Pierre Bonnard.