Kazuo Watanabe born on June 21, 1940, as the eldest son of woodworker Watanabe Ryosaku in Kaminomachi, Tsuchiyu Onsen Town, Fukushima Prefecture. His grandmother Hana was the third daughter of Sakuma Asanosuke, born in 1888, and Yonekichi and Torakichi were Hana's elder and younger brothers.
As a craftsman who inherited the Minatoya tradition, he eventually took on the name of the second Asanosuke and trained apprentices such as Noji Tadao, Ota Seiji, and Iwatsuki Yoshimasa. In September 2005, he held an exhibition and sale of Minatoya-style wares by Watanabe Kazuo and his apprentices at Hiyane in Tokyo. He died in an accident on
