Miura Koheiji was born on Sado Island in 1933 the eldest son of the distinguished ceramic artist Miura Kohei with a long-standing tradition of Mumyōi-yaki in Niigata Prefecture. As such he was also the grandson of the third-generation Miura Jōzan. In 1951, he entered the Sculpture Department of the Tokyo University of Arts, and in 1953, together with Kato Hajime, he founded the “Ceramics Research Society,” constructing a kiln on the university grounds. After graduating in 1955, he formally apprenticed under Kato. Miura gained early recognition in 1962 with the Asahi Shimbun Award at the Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Art Exhibition, and in 1964 established his own kiln in Kunitachi, Tokyo. His early practice explored a wide range of styles, but around 1966 he began to devote himself in earnest to celadon. In 1967, his Jun ware-style vase received the highest prize at the Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition.  A pivotal moment came in 1972, when, during a visit to the Palace Museum, he encountered Southern Song dynasty celadon and intuitively recognized a resemblance between its clay body and the Mumyōi clay of his native Sado. Following his father’s death in 1973, he inherited the family kiln. His 1976 work, a large celadon bowl awarded the Minister of Education Prize at the Japan Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition and subsequently acquired by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, marked a significant culmination of his pursuit to revive the spirit of Southern Song celadon. He received the Japan Ceramic Society Award in 1977. From 1980, Miura developed a distinctive body of work combining celadon with overglaze enamels, known as tōsai. Throughout the 1990s, he received numerous honors, including the exclusive Gold Prize of the Japan Ceramic Society (1993), the Grand Prize in the Crafts Division of the MOA Okada Mokichi Award (1994), and the Japan Kōgei Association Award at the Japan Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition (1995). He was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1996, and in 1997 was designated a Living National Treasure for celadon.