Another elderly teacher at the art institute that every attends, Shōda is Yamada's supervising instructor and an extremely avid admirer of her work, along with her "Iron Lady" fans. He is especially impressed with Yamada's graduation project, a beautifully thrown and large bowl, to point of weeping tears of joy and expresses the same reaction when she creates a similar and equally large bowl post-graduation. After Yamada graduates, she decides to continue studying with Shōda as a post-graduate student until she can find a job.
