Iwano Heizaburo (岩野平三郎)
Heizaburo IWANO is a maker of traditional Japanese washi paper. He was born in Fukui Prefecture. After graduating from Ritsumeikan University's Department of Economics, he began studying papermaking. In 1975, he was designated as a Fukui prefectural intangible folk cultural property. In 1979, he succeeded to the third Heizaburo IWANO. He received a special award from the Yoshida Isoya Memorial Foundation for Promoting the Arts (Yoshida Isoya Kinen Geijutsu Shinko Zaidan) for the Echizen washi (paper made in the former Echizen province) he made for the 1982 'Showa no Daishuri' (literally, 'large scale repairs of the Showa period')' of Katsura Imperial Villa. He inherited the art of making traditional 'uchigumo (paper with a lying cloud) ', 'tobikumo (a flying cloud-like pattern on indigo-blue and purple paper) 'and 'mizutama (polka dot)' Echizen washi patterns. His paper is regularly used by many Japanese-style painters, including Ikuo HIRAYAMA and Kaii HIGASHIYAMA.