When he completed his primary studies in 1920, he went to Tokyo, where he saw paintings by Cézanne and Van Gogh at an exhibition sponsored by the Shirakaba-ha, a prominent literary association.

Two years later, he had his second showing, with the Shun’yō-kai [ja] (Spring Meeting), a group devoted to promoting Western-style art.

He combined ideas from Abstract Expressionism with Fauvism, then switched to Surrealism.

In 1934 he published, at his own expense, a long narrative poem called "Butterflies and Shells" (蝶と貝殻), with illustrations.

That same year, while travelling in Nagoya, he died unexpectedly, from a bleeding stomach ulcer.