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Goro Takahashi (髙橋吾郎, June 29 1939 – November 25 2013), also known as Yellow Eagle, was a Japanese silversmith and leather craftsman renowned for his Native American inspired works and for being the first Japanese person to participate in a Sun Dance.

Goro's jewelry achieved cult status in Japan and internationally, thanks in part to celebrities like Takuya Kimura, Ken Kaneko, Eric Clapton and John Mayer who are known to collect it.

Biography

Early life

Goro was born in Jujo, Tokyo on June 29 1939 as the youngest of 6 brothers. Despite being the sixth child, he was called Goro (after go (五), 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 Seiji (清二) was a hardware peddler who wrote haiku under the pseudonym Seisen (清 泉).

Early career and leather working

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 relived of his duties and returned to the USA. Before leaving, he gifted Goro his leather crafting tools.

After graduation, at the age of 16, Goro used those tools to craft leather belts and engrave them with floral patterns characteristic of the American West. He brought these belts to Nakata Shoten (ja:中田商店), a shop dealing in military paraphernalia in the Ameyoko shopping district in Ueno. The owner, Tadao Nakata (中田忠夫), 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 Taro Takahashi (ja:高 橋 太 郎), who would later become a surfer renowned for crafting the first fiberglass surfboard in Japan.

Founding goro's

In 1956, Goro founded his own brand, goro's (ja:ゴローズ), 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. Since then through the late 1960s, Goro's mostly produced leather goods while gradually experimenting with brass buckles and metal fittings.

In 1966, Goro set up an atelier in his living quarters on the second floor of the Central Apartment building Minami-Aoyama. 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.

During this time Goro frequented disco clubs like MUGEN (ムゲン) in Akasaka, a hip go-go bar famous for being frequented by celebrities. This is where he befriended designers such as Takeo Kikuchi and Junko Hoshino [ja], as well as mingling with celebrities like Tina Turner, who commissioned him work. That's also where he met the man with which he would famously trade his Isuzu Bellett for a Corvette Stingray, at the time famous for having featured in the movie Route 66. It was around this time that Goro made his first appearance in the magazine ja:MEN'S CLUB.

References

1. "Welcome to the MUGEN – MyKaiju®". Retrieved 2024-11-20.

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