GWC 14 BCN, GWC 16 BCN

English, Japanese

Looking where Gaudi looked

Looking where Gaudi looked

Japan

Visiting lecturer at Kyushu University User Science Institute, School of Engineering Main Building, ambassador for Kesennuma, Rias Sanriku (Japan), and vice-president of the Nipon Centre in Canet de Mar.His huge admiration for Antoni Gaudí led him to convert to Catholicism. His major works are his pieces for the Sagrada Família.He visited Barcelona in 1978 and was amazed by the Sagrada Família. He asked to work as a stonecutter and was given the job once he had proved his worth. Since then he has worked on the Nativity facade, following Gaudí’s instructions. His extensive study and tremendous admiration for Gaudí led him to convert to Catholicism at the age of 37. In his native Japan, he is known as the “Japanese Gaudí”.His sculptures for the Sagrada Família include 15 groups of sculptures for the Nativity facade, with the figures of angel musicians, as well as the fruit baskets that crown the pinnacles of the church. He also designed the polychromed-aluminium and glass doors, decorated with plants, insects and small animals, to be installed on the Nativity facade. He has been commissioned to restore the sculptures on the Porta del Rosari that were damaged in the Spanish civil war. He is also working on the design of the tubular bells Gaudí planned to install in the bell towers on the three facades of the church. He also wants to restore the sculpture Gaudí designed to crown La Pedrera.