Born to a sculptor father in Utsunomiya city, Saeki Moriyoshi began studying ceramics in the Department of Crafts at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music where he graduated with a master’s degree in 1977. Even as a student, his talents were quickly recognized in juried competitions such as the Japan Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition. After working at a commercial pottery studio in Mashiko, Saeki established his own kiln in 1981 and has since been working there independently.
Saeki is one of a handful of ceramists who work with inlays or zogan, a decorative technique in which incised motifs on the surface of the bisque are filled with different colors or types of clay. He is fluent in both pictorial and abstract patterning in his works and is especially known for the poetic landscape imagery he creates on vessels with the exquisite inlay techniques. Saeki’s signature images on his vessels are Japanese landscapes of lakes, forests (especially of Japanese zelkova trees), and mountains executed in this inlay technique, and not with enamel painting techniques typically used to create such images.
In addition to ceramic production, Saeki is involved with education of the younger generations through academic programs and by participating in artist exchange programs in China, Korea and Japan.