1913 Born July 7 in Tokyo.
1941 Begins to specialize in the art of Katazome under Serizawa Keisuke.
1947 Receives the first Japan Folk Art Museum Prize for The Story of Ruth.
1948 Receives the Kokugakai Prize (Japanese Print Association) for The Story of Ruth
1956 Receives award from the Japan Print Academy for Girls and a Lot of Quails.
1958 Receives first prize for The Bronze Serpent, at the Modern Japanese Print Exhibition held at Saint
James Church, New York, N.Y..
1960 Receives prize in print contest for his print, Listening, subsequently include in Japmes A.
Michener’s book, The Modern Japanese Print: An Appreciation (1962).
1962 Displays The Shepherds and The Shepherds Look at the Star, International Biennial Print
Exhibition, Tokyo.
1963 One-man show at the Netherlands Embassy, Tokyo.
1969 Becomes a member of Japan Print Association.
1969-70 Visiting faculty member, Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon. One-man shows in Portland,
Seattle, and San Francisco.
1971 Displays Saint Francis Preaches to the Birds at the Modern Japanese Print Exhibition held in
Brussels, Belgium. Receives first prize in the Intermedia World Christmas Card Contest.
1973 Ten prints hung in the permanent collection of the Vatican Museum of Modern Religious Art.
1975 One man show at Lerchenberg Gemeindehaus and Christus Kirche in Mainz, Germany.
1976 Invited to the United States by the Lutheran Church of America; teaches print technique and
exhibits works at Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, Minnesota, and Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio.
1978 Attends Conference of Asian Christian Artists, Bali Island, Indonesia; displays work.
1981 Granted an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon.
1983 Lectures and holds one-man show at Linfield College.
1985 One-man shows at Academy Arts of Honolulu and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria,
British Columbia, Canada.
1986 Publication of book on his work, Biblical Prints by Sadao Watanabe (Shinkyo Shuppansha).
Exhibition in celebration of the book publication at Sekaikan Gallery, Tokyo.
1987 Invited to the United States by the Lutheran Church of America; exhibition and lecture at Stony
Point Center, New York. Received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana, and the Confessor of Christ award from Christ Seminary Seminex in cooperation with the Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago.
1988 Invited to China for exhibitions at churches and seminaries in Hong Kong, Nanking, ans
Shanghai.
1989 Exhibitions in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Luzern, Switzerland and at the Museum Holmen
Logumkloster, Denmark.
1990 Exhibition at Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan.
1992 Exhibition at Oglethorpe University Art Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia.
1993 Receives an Award for Distinguished Contribution to Christian Culture from the Christian
Literature Society of Japan.
1996 Died January 8, Tokyo