He graduated from the painting course of the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts in 1915 and from the Kyoto Municipal Special School of Painting in 1918. In 1919 his work was selected for the first Teiten, and he showed at almost every Teiten thereafter. In 1924 he became an assistant professor at his old school, the Municipal Special School of Painting, and a professor in 1936, resigning the following year. During this time he visited China three times and took part in the Kyumei-kai, the Rokucho-kai and the Shunko-kai. On the ground of thorough drawing from life he showed spare, abstract works in clear colour, bringing a new air into modern Japanese painting and making the Japanese painting of the post-war years attractive.