After primary school he was placed in a temple, and in 1903 entered Chishaku-in in Kyoto; but he ran away, set on becoming a painter, and entered the school of Shonen Suzuki. In 1904 he studied under Seiho Takeuchi. In 1908 his work was selected for the Bunten at his first attempt. When the Kyoto Municipal Special School of Painting (now Kyoto City University of Arts) opened in 1909 he entered the supplementary course together with Chikkyo Ono; Kagaku Murakami and others in the main course were of his year. After graduating in 1911 his interest in modern Western painting deepened, and he also went further into the study of Chinese and Japanese painting, showing major works at the Bunten thereafter. In 1918 he founded the Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai with Kagaku and Chikkyo. He established a manner of his own that drew on Western painting.