Born in Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture, he went to Tokyo at sixteen determined to become a painter. On the recommendation of Koyo Ozaki he entered the studio of Hanko Kajita. In 1914 he took part in the revival of the Japan Art Institute, and, with the yamato-e tradition at his centre, worked widely from history painting to portraits and birds-and-flowers, building a rich pictorial world. He received the Order of Culture in 1955 and was one of the painters who represented the modern Japanese-painting world. He also took part in the protection of cultural properties, copying the wall paintings of the Kondo at Horyu-ji and those of the Takamatsuzuka tomb.