Hagiwara spent much of his childhood in Korea, in a home filled with Japanese and Korean art. During the 1930s, he studied oil painting at the Tokyo Art School, and on graduating won a position at the Takamizawa Woodcut Company that specialized in reproducing ukiyo-e prints. Meanwhile, he took part in a woodblock printing course taught by Hiratsuka Un'ichi. After returning from the war, Hagiwara began to develop a figurative style that moved into abstraction by way of a poetic sense of composition and whimsical forms. Hagiwara preferred to make large prints, using an entire sheet of hanga torinoko paper. He devised numerous innovations in printmaking to recreate the texture of a drawing. - Portland Art Museum

Hagiwara went on to participate in the 2nd International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo in 1960, which won him the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art’s Award. He furthered his international reputation by winning the Grand Prix of the 7th Lugano International Print Biennial in 1962 and the 2nd International Print Biennial in Czechoslovakia in 1967, respectively. In 1983, Hagiwara was awarded the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon. He died 2007, aged 94. - Toki no Wasuremono