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Minoru Arai is the 20th head of the family to carry on the tradition of weaving since Muromachi Era (15th c.)
He is a registered traditional art master in Japan and has done numbers of valuable commissioned works including a few for the Imperial Household Agency.
He also challenged to modernize this traditional art skill and created and patented a method of weaving technique called “Kaiga-ori; Woven Painting” which is a wonderful combination of the modern age of computer image processing technology and his own mastery of technique.
In 2002 commemorating 800 year anniversary of its founding by the Zen master Eisai, Arai was commissioned by Kennin-ji Temple in Kyoto to re-create the temple’s painting collection “Wind God and Thunder God” into a woven painting.
This famous Tawaraya Sotautsu’s painting is a national treasure but Arai’s specially created minute detailed woven painting brought the national treasure close to us.