After enrolling as a student in the Commerce Department of Meiji University[1] he joined the left-wing Society for the Study of Social Science (社会科学研究会 : Shakai-kagaku kenkyukai ).

This was politically dangerous, as the Peace Preservation Law of 1925 made members of any association whose object was the alteration of the kokutai (National Polity), or of the system of private property, liable to imprisonment for up to ten years.

[citation needed] Through the 1930s, Tōno appeared in almost all of the New Tsukiji Theatre Group's productions, receiving favourable reviews.

In particular, his performances as Heizō in Earth (土: Tsuchi), Yugorō in The Composition-writing Classroom (綴方教室: Tsuzurikata kyōshitsu) and the Gravedigger in Hamlet established his reputation as an actor.

In 1938 he appeared in Teinosuke Kinugasa's Kuroda seichū roku (黒田誠忠録)and subsequently had roles in pictures for the Shōchiku, Nikkatsu and Tōhō studios.

In 1944 Tōno, Eitarō Ozawa, Koreya Senda, Sugisaku Aoyama, Chieko Higashiyama and others formed the Actors' Theatre Haiyuza.

[citation needed] The role for which he is perhaps best remembered in Japan, however, is that of the title character in the hugely popular TV jidaigeki Mito Kōmon,[1] in which the historical Tokugawa Mitsukuni, retired daimyō of the Mito Domain, roams the country in the guise of a retired merchant, Mitsuemon, righting wrongs and correcting injustice with the aid of two samurai retainers.