Etsuro Sotoo

Okay, this one genuinely gives me chills. A guy born in Fukuoka, trained at the Kyoto City University of Arts, who ends up in Barcelona carving stone on the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's wild unfinished cathedral. I mean, come on. He didn't just visit, he settled in and spent decades there, becoming one of the lead sculptors on a building that's been under construction longer than most countries have existed. What gets me is the patience of it. No flashy persona, no hype, just a man and his chisel quietly inheriting somebody else's impossible dream across an ocean and a language barrier. There's something almost monastic about devoting your hands to stone that won't be finished in your lifetime. I find that quietly heroic, honestly.

Etsuro Sotoo is a Japanese sculptor born on January 1, 1953, in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. He studied at Kyoto City University of Arts and is widely known for his long-term work as a sculptor on the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, Spain. In addition to his sculptural practice, he has worked as a lecturer and university educator.

Name (English)

Etsuro Sotoo

Name (Japanese)

外尾悦郎

Reading

そとお えつろう

Born

January 1, 1953 (age 73)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Snake (巳)

Origin

Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan

Occupation

Sculptor / Lecturer / University Educator

High school

Fukuoka Prefectural Fukuoka High School

University

Kyoto City University of Arts

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.etsurosotoo.com
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/sotooetsuro/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%96%E5%B0%BE%E6%82%A6%E9%83%8E

Tags

• From Fukuoka Prefecture
• Sculptor
• Lecturer
• University Educator

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.