He inflicted heavy losses on attacking U.S. Marines and held Peleliu Island for almost three months.

On the evening of 24 November, after the battle was lost, he performed seppuku (ritual suicide) in the tradition of Japanese samurai warriors.

He graduated from the 30th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in December 1918 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry of the IJA 48th Regiment.

He experienced combat for the first time during the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, and subsequently served with distinction during the Second Sino-Japanese War in Shanxi Province.

As the situation in the Pacific War increasingly deteriorated for Japan, the 14th Division was redeployed to bolster the defenses of the Japanese territory of Palau, and the IJA 2nd Infantry Regiment was assigned to the small island of Peleliu south of the main islands in the archipelago[citation needed][when?].