Ogura is well-known in Korea for his contributions to Korean linguistics, with much of his field work and studies considered invaluable resources even in recent years.

[1] Ogura was born in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Empire of Japan into a family of scholars.

After graduating, he performed research under the guidance of notable Japanese linguist Ueda Kazutoshi [ja].

[2][4] During this time, he held a number of academic and teaching positions, including at the Keijō Medical School [ko] (a predecessor to Seoul National University).

[2][4] While working in the colonial government, Ogura contributed to the development of a Korean dictionary, which was eventually published in 1920.

While his interest in dialects was initially more of a hobby (he even used his own vacation time to make these trips), he eventually devoted more attention in it, as he saw studying texts alone as insufficient for deciphering hyangga.

The colonial government actively supported his research; he was assigned a police officer for protection when he worked in Jeju.

[2][4][7] In 1933, he was appointed professor of linguistics at Tokyo Imperial University, although he visited Korea annually to lecture.

In 1935, he received an Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy for his contributions to East Asian linguistics and his exploration of the relationship between the Korean and Japanese languages.