Masataka Sato born in Aizu-Wakamatsu on February 22, 1947, as the youngest of nine siblings to Sato Makoto and Hideko.
After his father's death, Masataka had the desire to take over his father's profession of woodworking. So he quit his job as a sailor and helped his mother run the inn as a clerk, while studying woodcarving under Takahashi Seiji in Taira from August 1972.
His wife, Mikiko, also began making kokeshi dolls at the same time as his son, Hideyuki. The family was affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, and moved to Akagi-cho, Shibukawa City, Gunma Prefecture for about a year to continue turning wood, but in April 2012 they returned to Hira (in Tokufusa, Hirashio, Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture) and resumed business at "Kijidokoro Sato."
