Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1932. One of Japan’s leading conceptual artists. After graduating from then Aichi Prefectural Eighth Junior High School, he moved to Tokyo in 1951. He attracted attention with his “Bathroom” series of pencil drawings. In 1959, he moved to Mexico. Later, in 1965, he began his activities based in New York City. On January 4, 1966, he began the “Today” Series, in which he painted only the date of creation in white on a single-color canvas, which later became his signature work. Since 1966, he has never made an official appearance in a catalogue or other publications, never spoken about his work, and never given an interview; his true character has remained hidden.

The “Today” Series was created according to the following rules: the work must begin at midnight and be completed by the end of the day, the painting must be accompanied by a container containing information about the artist’s experiences that day (newspaper clippings, etc.), and the painting must be created according to the conventions of language, chronology, and punctuation used in the city. These were works that he continued to work on throughout his life. Despite the fact that the production was completed in one day, the production process for this series was quite detailed. The background color is applied in layers, and the date text is carefully formed by hand with an art knife. It is apparent that a great deal of time was spent on drying time for the paints and repeated revisions of the letters.