1962 年、平取町二風谷に生まれる。父（勉）が経営する民芸店を手伝いながら木彫りを始め、1992年には「北海道アイヌ工芸展」最優秀賞を受賞した。その後も、北海道知事賞など受賞歴多数。2009年、財団法人アイヌ文化振興・研究推移新機構伝統工芸家に認定されている。「釣りをしていないと、いい作品を作れない」というほど、釣り・魚好きとして知られる。手の中の魚が、どう彫ったらいいかを教えてくれると言い、一番の望みは「生きているかのような魚を彫ること」。魚のモチーフ以外にも、アイヌの伝統工芸品を多彩に制作し、鮭をデザイン化したバンダナなど新しい作品づくりに積極的に取り組んでいる。「つとむ民芸」店主。
Born in Nibutani, Biratori in 1962. He started woodcarving while helping out in the folk art shop run by his father (Tsutomu), and in 1992 he was awarded First Prize at the Hokkaido Ainu Craft Exhibition. Since then he has won many other prizes, including the Hokkaido Governor's Award. In 2009 The Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture recognized him as a traditional craftsman. He is well-known to love fishing and fish so much that he says he cannot create good carvings unless he has been fishing. He says that when he holds a fish in his hands it teaches him how it to carve its form, and that his greatest wish is to "carve fish that seem to be alive". In addition to his fish motif he produces a wide variety of traditional Ainu craft items, and is actively working on creating new items, such as bandanas with a salmon design. He is the owner of Tsutomu Mingei.
