Born 1942 in Hiroshima, Tonoshiki survived the atomic bombing at the age of three. His father died in the event, as well as his mother five years later due to illness. At the age of 26, Tonoshiki decided to become a painter. In 1977, he started to learn copperplate print making at the recommendation of the art critic Kubo Sadajiro.

Tonoshiki gained recognition around 1979-80 with works based on his experience with the atomic bombing. He visited Documenta 7 in 1982, which left him deeply impressed with the art of Beuys. In 1983, Tonoshiki exhibited an installation consisting of four tons of tires and other materials at the Yamaguchi Prefectural Exhibition. He died in 1992 at the age of 50.

Though separated only three years in age from Tonoshiki, I have never met him in person while he was alive. When Kubo Sadajiro once showed me multiple sheets of delicate pencil drawings by Tonoshiki, saying that this was a ‘genuinely interesting artist,’ their true value was not immediately evident to me. So back then, I unfortunately decided to not buy them. After Tonoshiki’s death, however, I kept on browsing the catalog of a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Shimonoseki City Art Museum. I was thinking that at some point I wanted to hold a ‘Tonoshiki Tadashi Exhibition,’ to fulfill the task given to me by Kubo.