Tsuguo Yanai was born in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan in 1953. Following his graduation from the printmaking department at the Sokei Academy of Fine Arts in 1977, Yanai studied with British printmaker SW Hayter at his experimental workshop, Atelier 17, in Paris (1978-79). Yanai has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions and has received many awards for his work.

In the early 1980s Yanai developed an interest in making paper and used hemp in the process: he calls his method 'Mashi'. While conventional papermaking is achieved through a so-called wet process, Yanai uses a dry method. An example of this technique was seen in Yanai's contribution to 'The First Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' (1993) at Queensland Art Gallery, entitled Numen - spirit of tree (1991). This large, multi-part installation is typical of much of the artist's oeuvre in its linkage of the idea of paper (the material of which it was composed) with its origins in plants and trees, thus suggesting a connection with the spirit of life itself. In a similar way, Yanai's drawings are organic in form and utilise their paper support within the composition, sometimes suggesting a merging of drawing with sculpture.

Essay adapted from Akatsu, Tadashi, 'Tsuguo Yanai', The First Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1993, p.78, (originally in Akatsu, Tadashi. Spirit of Paper: Life of Material. The works of Tsuguo Yanai [exhibition catalogue], trans. Yoko Takei, Gallery, Tokyo, April 1991).