When Masanori Minami was eight years old. he got caught in an electric saw at his parents lumber company. He was hurt so badly that both his arms had to be amputated at the shoulders. Two years later he went to a school for disabled children where he learn t how to perform daily tasks with his mouth or feet. Afterwards he attended the junior High School. In second year, he became a student of the deceased Japanese mouth painter, Nun Junkyo Ohishi, a former member of the Association. She taught him how to paint with his mouth according to traditional Japanese art. His own will to express himself find its roots in this tradition. Already in 1967 he received a scholarship from the Association and in 1975 he was awarded full membership. 

Masanori Minami gives the traditional animal and landscape motifs a modern clarity and sobriety. Ornamental stylizations dominate over the intensive feeling for nature. His works have won him many awards and distinctions. Masanori Minami often gives lectures at home and abroad. He also visits rehabilitation centers throughout Japan and supports the sponsorship of Nepalese School Children.