His given name was Saburo. He moved to Tokyo in 1900, and in 1915 entered the Western painting course of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. The following year he received a second prize at the ninth Bunten, and won prizes at the Nika exhibition as well, so that he was beginning to be recognised as a painter in oils; but in 1918 he left the Western painting course, sat the examination for the Japanese painting course, and passed. In 1923 he graduated top of the Japanese painting course, became a member of Eikyu Matsuoka’s Shinko Yamato-e Association, and showed repeatedly at its regular exhibitions. In 1929 he became a professor at the newly founded Imperial Art School, and in 1930 took part in forming the Rokucho-kai. He received the Order of Culture in 1965. Bringing traditional technique together with a clear sense of his own time, he sought a new Japanese painting and created a world of his own.