Akira Sasaki

Japan

In 2002, Akira Sasaki first entered the world of guitar making, graduating from the Niibori Guitar School. She then studied under the great Japanese masters Yuichi Imai and Masaki Sakurai, gaining diverse experiences and knowledge. Afterward, she worked as part of the skilled team at the Kohno Guitar Workshop, where she repaired and adjusted many fine instruments, including those by Hauser I, Manuel Ramírez, Antonio Marín Montero, and Arcángel Fernández. These repair experiences, combined with inspiration drawn from a Fleta guitar played by Shinichi Fukuda, have greatly influenced her instrument-making since she began in 2019. Sasaki's guitars are based on traditional bracing styles, such as those of Hauser and Fleta. One of her distinctive features is her purfling motif, which uses an arrow-feather pattern instead of the traditional herringbone, symbolizing sound that reaches far like an arrow.