Painter in the Western manner and printmaker. Born in Aichi Prefecture. He graduated from the Western painting course of the Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1906, and the following year founded the art magazine Hosun with Ishii Hakutei and Morita Tsunetomo. In 1912 he went to Europe, staying in France and Russia. On his return he showed with the Japan Art Institute as a member. The Japan Creative Print Association, which he founded in 1918 with Onchi Koshiro and others, did much to establish the modern print in Japan. He also threw himself into the free-drawing education movement and the peasant art movement, founding the Japan Peasant Art Institute in Nagano Prefecture. His prints in particular are highly valued on the market.