Early life Goro was born in
Jujo, Tokyo, on June 29, 1939, and had five older brothers. Despite being the sixth child, he was called Goro (after , the number five in Japanese) because at the time of his birth he was the fifth living son, as one of his older brothers had already died in war. His father was a hardware seller who wrote
haiku under the pseudonym . During junior high school, Goro attended a summer camp in the forest of
Hayama, Kanagawa. There he met an American soldier stationed in Japan who, despite the language barrier, taught him leather crafting. Goro kept visiting him year after year, until eventually the soldier was relieved of his duties and returned to the US. Before leaving, he gifted Goro his leather-crafting tools. After graduation, at the age of 16, Goro interrupted his studies and used those tools to craft leather belts and engrave them with floral patterns characteristic of the
American West. He brought these belts to , a shop dealing in military
paraphernalia in the
Ameyoko shopping district in
Ueno. The owner, , initially placed an order of 100 belts, and later commissioned Goro leather bags, Native and Western accessories. During this time he briefly took on an apprentice, his nephew , who would later become a surfer renowned for crafting the first fiberglass surfboard in Japan.
Founding ''Goro's'' and gaining recognition In 1956, Goro founded his brand, '
, in Komagome, Tokyo, where he was living. The logo was designed by his friend Vartan Kurjian, an American designer who lived in Tokyo at the time. Until the late 1960s, Goro mostly produced leather goods while gradually experimenting with brass buckles and metal fittings. Goro opened an atelier on the second floor of the Central Apartment building Minami-Aoyama in 1966, where he lived. There he worked on everything from deerskin jackets and trousers to pieces of furniture, including customizing his own Isuzu Bellett with leather upholstery carved with his designs. This is where he befriended designers such as Takeo Kikuchi and , as well as mingled with celebrities like Tina Turner, who commissioned his work. It was around this time that Goro made his first appearance in the menswear magazine '.
In the United States In 1967, when he was 28 years old, Goro traveled to
New York City during his first visit to the United States. There he visited a museum where, for the first time, he saw Native American artifacts, jewelry, and silverwork in person. Going back to Japan, he saved money, and whenever he had earned enough he would return to the United States. There he was approached by Jed, a silversmith, who asked him about the leather accessories he was wearing. Despite the language barrier, the two bonded, forming a friendship that would last for the rest of their lives. Jed taught Goro how to craft accessories from silver, his first project being a
concho made using a crushed
one dollar silver coin. In return, Goro
bartered the products of his leather-crafting skills. After returning to Japan from this trip, Goro started crafting Native American inspired silver jewelry and selling it at ''Goro's
. There he underwent a naming ceremony and received the name of Yellow Eagle'' (as in "eagle from the east") by the
medicine man.
Back in Japan Goro's fame grew in the 1980s and 1990s, propelled by the ''
and Shibuya Casual
trends in fashion at the time, as well as being featured in popular menswear publications like Men's Club
and Popeye''. During this time he was running the store alone, which made him an easy target for shoplifters. To put an end to it, in the winter of 1991 Goro started allowing only one person or group at a time, which led to a more personalized shopping experience and longer lines outside his store, both of which further increased his fame. One day, thinking of his customers sitting on the cold guardrails in winter, he installed a log on the sidewalk, which became an Harajuku attraction in itself. The log was eventually removed by the
Tokyo Metropolitan Government after ten years, in 2002. Goro kept producing and working at the store until the 2000s, when he retired to focus on creative endeavors in his Tokyo studio. He died on November 25, 2013, at the age of 74. == Legacy ==