He was the eldest of seven children born in Tashiro Village (now Tosu), Saga Prefecture.
After graduation in August 1925, he moved to the new Tokyo City Electrical Institute, which was established to develop and promote radio broadcasting technology under the directorship of Kotaro Kujirai, a pioneer of the research and teaching of radio science.
This formed the basis of his PhD thesis, completed in April 1930, entitled "Characteristics of the Crystal Oscillator."
This type of temperature-insensitive quartz crystal oscillator has been indispensable to all radio communication systems and much of information electronics.
[3] He was awarded the Japan Academy Prize in 1948 (the citation reads for "Theoretical and Experimental Investigation upon the Fundamental Characteristics of Piezoelectric Oscillating Crystal and Quartz Crystal Oscillator Circuit and Their Applications to Wireless Communication and Crystal Clock"), [4] the Order of Cultural Merit award in 1963 and became a member of the Japanese Academy in 1971.