He was influenced by the works of Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe, and the Japanese writers Yukio Mishima and Tatsuhiko Shibusawa.

In 1917, Hinatsu published the first anthology of his own works, Tenshin no sho, which combined elements from both genre into what he described as “gothic romanticism”.

His critical study, Meiji Taisho shi shi (History of Poetry in the Meiji and Taisho eras, 1929) was the first scholarly history of modern Japanese poetry, and was appointed a professor at the Waseda University Department of Literature in 1931.

In 1949, he revised his History of Poetry in the Meiji and Taisho eras, expanding it into three volumes, which were awarded the 1st Yomiuri Prize in 1950.

In 1952, Hinatsu accepted a post as professor of English literature at Aoyama Gakuin University; however, he suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1956, and returned to his native Iida.