Born at Honjo village in Oku District, Okayama Prefecture, the son of a sake brewer; his given name was Mojiro. He moved to Tokyo in 1901 and studied at Waseda Jitsugyo. He contributed illustrations and poems to newspapers and magazines, and in 1905 took first place in “Bunsho Sekai” with the small picture “Tsutsu Izutsu”, beginning his work as an artist. In 1909 “Yumeji Gashu: Spring” was published and became a best-seller. His romantic beauties were much loved, and he published one collection of poems and pictures after another to great acclaim. The song “Yoimachigusa”, for which he wrote the words, became popular across the country. From 1931 he travelled to America and Europe and held solo exhibitions, continuing to seek a new manner. He died in 1934 at the age of forty-nine, his last word being “thank you”.