Maher Shalal Hash Baz is the artistic alter ego of Tori Kudo (工藤冬里), a Japanese naivist composer and musician. The name is taken from Maher-shalal-hash-baz in the Book of Isaiah, and translates roughly as "Hurrying to the spoil, he has made haste to the plunder." Tori Kudo has been cagey about details of his life before MSHB. He was once a member of a shadowy, revolutionary political party in Japan, although he has dissociated himself from politics since becoming a Jehovah's Witness. He also works as a ceramicist.