After that, he entered the Hakuba Association Movie Research Institute where studied an oil painting under Nakamura's tutoring.
During the period 1937-1940 he posted texts in addition to drawings, sketches in the satirical print magazine Kalikare.
In 1942, during the Pacific theater of World War II, Tsuruta commemorated the active role of airborne Army and Naval units and the celebrated aerial attack on Palembang by Army paratroopers in his war scene Divine Soldiers Descend on Palembang (神兵パレンバンに降下す, Shinpei parenban ni koukasu).
After the World War II, he traveled across Japan and visited various national parks where he drew landscapes.
Tsuruta served as a judge at the Bunten Exhibition, and established the Japan Mountain Forest Fine Arts Association (日本山林美術協会, Nihon kinrin bijutsu kyōkai).