Toru Oba was born in Minazawa, Yamagata prefecture, Japan in 1945 into a family of land owners and artists. He was always restless and interested in the world outside of Japan. In 1969 Toru found himself in southern France in an 11th century stone village, LaRoque sur Ceze. Here he apprenticed with the local stone masons and learned basic stone structure, lime based mortar techniques, and stucco and roof tile installation techniques while repairing and restoring the ancient architecture of the village.

After moving to the USA in 1972, Toru continued working with stone and brick, eventually settling in the mountains of West Virginia, where he continued to hone his craft creating fireplaces, walls, patios and gardens and eventually Russian and Finnish style fireplaces and the original Rumford designed fireplace; all environmentally friendly, clean, warm and efficient designs.

In 1985 Toru moved with his wife and two daughters to central Virginia, where he currently resides, and where he continues to work in stone and brick in and around Albemarle County. Toru's work in the past ten years has included a shift towards landscape features and sculptural structures such as ponds, waterfalls, fountains and gardens and large sculpted stone benches and tables and more recently, free standing contemporary sculpture.

Toru is a builder/designer and he does his best work when he is given free rein to offer his own designs within a project. He accepts both private and public commissions and is also available as a consultant.


See Toru's website:   www.toruoba.com

"GENSHI" - a Japanese word that translates as "primitive beginnings." It has two seperate pieces that are joined together.

Much of the piece is polished to a fine very smooth finish, but some of it is left in its exposed natural stone state. It is made of hard serpentine soapstone in green to dark gray blue colors and sits on a base of Georgia granite.

62' long x 62' wide and 59' high.