The Master

Born in 1926. At the age of 4, his family moved to Kobe, Mikage where he grew up. In 1956, he left the Department of Political Sciences of Kwansei Gakuin University Graduate School for Portugal where he attended Lisbon University to study the history of diplomacy. He stayed in Portugal for over fifteen years, during which he frequently traveled around Europe, Africa and Latin America. He then left history of diplomacy for painting and the pursuit of various forms of art. The scope of his work varied from sculpture, ceramic art, glass art, design, poetry, calligraphy, rice paper making, engraving and weaving to tea ceremony. Although painting was, as he puts it ,“ just a way of spending time “, and he genuinely disliked being called an “artist”, his unique style and his refined East-West blending touch received an enormous appreciation, making him one of the most loved artists in Portugal and in Southern Europe of that time.
After becoming a legendary Artist in Portugal and Spain, he felt a strong interest in Chinese characters and “Kanshi” Poetry so he came back to Kobe and worked at his hidden atelier in Arima Onsen where he continued to create beautiful art pieces away from the spotlights. His beautiful soul rested in peace on January 31st 2021.
39 pieces of his work have been purchased by 17 museums throughout Europe and Africa. Several scores of book of his work have been published. He also had held more than 15 solo exhibitions both inside and outside of Japan.

The World of MUHOAN

- the way of living is the essence of art -

This philosophy is the origin of his unique artist name “ MUHOAN ”. To him, painting, ceramic art, or glass making, are simply modes to express his sensitivity and his world. Influenced by the spirit of zen and tea ceremony, and so his design perfectly embodies the 'wabi', 'sabi', 'shibusa', and 'kan'.
Passionate by the origin of words and characters, he acquired expertise through years of study and use of Ancient Chinese characters and poems, zen writing and the Analects of Confucius.
Muhoan, is certainly a fascinating, playful world of words and characters.

“ I love Kanji and characters. I don’t mean that I like calligraphy,
but I do have an interest in their origins – that’s why I own so many dictionaries.
They can be lie comics to me”.