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Shunji Tanaka

Shunji Tanaka

MazdaDesign lead

Chief designer who shaped the first Roadster (NA) with traditional Japanese beauty, such as the Ko-omote and Waka-onna Noh masks, as motifs

Timeline

  1. 1989
    Roadster 1st generation (NA)
    Roadster 1st generation (NA)

    1989–1998Design lead

    Worked with

    A face born from Noh masks

    The first Roadster's design motifs drew heavily on symbols of Japanese tradition. The front face was inspired by the Ko-omote Noh mask, and the side line that falls from the bonnet along the side window and rises again by the profile of the Waka-onna mask. This was because Tanaka sensed traditional Japanese beauty in the Noh masks his wife made, and real masks still decorate Tanaka's home. Because there was no room to display a car, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York holds in its permanent collection the rear combination lamp that Tanaka presented as the Roadster's icon.

    Mazda

Connections

    Shunji Tanaka

    Shunji Tanaka

    Profile

    Chief designer of the first-generation Roadster. The face of the car was inspired by the koomote noh mask, and the lines along its flanks by the profile of the wakaonna noh mask. For his work on the product design he received an Invention Award from the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation, for the design of a lightweight sports car.

    Translated from Japanese sources.

    Mazda engineers

    All Mazda engineers