His given name was Shoichi. He first studied Western painting, but in 1919 joined the Chikujokai, studied under Seiho Takeuchi and moved to Japanese painting. His work was selected for the first Teiten that year. After a period of sympathy with the manner of the great Keisen Tomita, he continued after the war to show at the Nitten and in solo exhibitions in a decorative, humorous manner of his own, and in time opened his own ground in landscape. He received special prizes at the ninth and eleventh Teiten. From 1936 to 1949 he was an assistant professor at the Kyoto Municipal Special School of Painting (now Kyoto City University of Arts). In 1953 he led the Seitosha. Recipient of the Japan Art Academy Prize; member of the Academy; Person of Cultural Merit; recipient of the Order of Culture.