Takashi Shuji was born in the town of Nishinomiya, in Hyogo Prefecture. After finishing his education in a specialist school at the age of eighteen, Takashi Shuji goes to the art workshop connected to the Suzukake Institution, an establishment providing work for the mentally handicapped.

Takashi Shuji produces drawings in pastels, taking inspiration from the various objects placed on his work table: vessels, fire extinguishers, pitchers, plastic water droppers, balls of wool and small brushes. Bent over his support, a few centimetres away from the sheet of paper, his face gradually becomes covered with black pastel powder, the colour that predominates in his compositions.

Takashi Shuji always looks at his subject attentively but never seeks to copy it faithfully. This is why, when he reaches the edge of a sheet, the shape in progress ends, even if it is incomplete. In drawing, he uses a rubber, a tool contrary to the Japanese graphic tradition in which rethinking does not exist, any more than correction or preliminary sketching. But he uses it not to rub out or correct a mistake but to «outline» with precision the subject that he has drawn beforehand in the form of a black mass.