[5][6] In 1948, he joined the Daiei studio and started working as an assistant director under Kon Ichikawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Kazuo Mori etc.
[3] Tanaka received the Japan Directors Guild Special award for his Akumyō series films.
[7] In 1971, he was released from his contract with Daiei and become a freelance director when the studio shut down film production.
[3] As a freelance director he directed a lot of jidaigeki television dramas[3][4] such as Hissatsu series.
[5] His final work was in the 2007 short film Shonen Kawachiondotori Monogatari.