画家・絵本作家

1973 年山口県宇部市に生まれる。幼少期は病弱で家が自営業で忙しかったこともあり、一人でお絵描きや工作に熱中していたことが現在につながる創作の原点となっている。

アニメや漫画が大好きで、特に鳥山明と高橋留美子から大きな影響を受けた。高校生の頃、週刊少年サンデーに初めてマンガを投稿 。“あと一歩で賞” という賞をもらうが、その結果に納得がいかず、「自分に足りないのはデッサン力だ！」と思い込み、宇部美術研究所（美大受験予備校）の門を叩く。そこで初めて触れた美術の世界に感銘を受け、一浪した後、武蔵野美術大学油絵科へ入学する。

大学在学中は、ピエール・ボナールやアンリ・マチス、木村忠太などから影響を受け、主に光をテーマにした抽象画を描いていた。卒業後は地元山口へ戻って創作活動を続けていたが、2005 年頃より絵本に興味を持ちはじめ数々の絵本コンクールに応募する。その後、出版の仕事を求めて2009 年に上京。2011 年に『まちぼうけの生態学』〈たくさんのふしぎ〉（遠藤知二・文／福音館書店）で絵本作家としてデビュー。同年3 月11 日に起きた東日本大震災をきっかけに、谷川俊太郎さんの代表詩である“生きる” の絵本化に取り組み、絵本の二作目として、2013 年に福音館書店より『生きる』〈たくさんのふしぎ〉が刊行された。

現在は、シリアスからコメディまで内容に合わせた多様なタッチで絵本作品を発表している。また、画家として、絵画やレリーフ、立体作品などの創作に日々励んでいる。

Painter,Picture Book Author

Born in 1973 in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture. As a child, he was sickly and his family was busy with their own business. While he was alone, he was absorbed in drawing and crafting , which became the origin of his current creative endeavors.

He loves anime and manga, and has been especially influenced by Akira Toriyama and Rumiko Takahashi. When he was in high school, he submitted his first manga to Weekly Shonen Sunday and won an award called “One Step Away Award.” However, he was not satisfied with the result and believed that “What I lack is drawing ability!”, so he went to the Ube Art Institute (a preparatory school for art college entrance exams). He was impressed by the world of art that he encountered for the first time there, later he enrolled in the Oil Painting Department of Musashino Art University.

During his time at university, he was influenced by Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Chuta Kimura, and others, and mainly painted abstract paintings with the theme of light. After graduating, he returned to his hometown in Yamaguchi to continue his creative work, but around 2005 he began to become interested in picture books and applied to numerous picture book contests.

He then moved to Kanagawa Prefecture in 2009 in search of work in publishing. In 2011, he made his debut as a picture book author with “Spiders Meets Insects-Ecological Web in the Grassland” (Text by Tomoji Endo/Fukuinkan Shoten). In the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11 of the same year, he worked on adapting Shuntaro Tanikawa’s signature poem “What’ s Life” into a picture book, and his second picture book, “What’ s Life”, was published by Fukuinkan Shotenin 2013.

He currently publishes picture books with a variety of touches, from serious to comedic, to suit the content. He also works daily as a painter, creating paintings, reliefs, and three-dimensional works.