About Mr. Masayoshi Yano

→ Click here for Mr. Masayoshi Yano's Supervised Book on Maples (eBook version)

Mr. Masayoshi Yano was born in Osaka Prefecture in 1935 and currently resides in Uda City, Nara Prefecture.

He became a disciple of the renowned photographer Taiji Irie, famous for his photographs of Nara's landscapes and Buddhist statues, and later became a freelance food photographer.

In addition to his technical skills in photography, he is highly knowledgeable in cooking, tea ceremony, and antique art. He has handled most of the photography for high-end restaurants across Japan, particularly in the Kansai region, elevating the art of food photography to new heights.

From a young age, he was passionately involved in research on maples. Starting in his 40s, he began cultivating tea flowers and later created a maple garden in Nara City, which he named and opened to the public as "Gan-Kaede-Tei".

After retiring as a photographer, he was invited to the town revitalization project in Tawadano Town (now Uda City), Nara Prefecture, as a maple expert. He donated 3,000 maple trees and valuable books to the town, creating "WORLD MAPLE PARK Hirara".

He is globally renowned as a leading expert in the study of Japanese maples and is one of the few members of The Maple Society in Japan.

He had been energetically continuing his activities, such as providing guidance on cultivating and managing maples at "Hirara," until he passed away on August 22, 2023.