Born in Miyagi Prefecture in 1885. Took up ink drawing as a child and studied watercolor from a guidebook by Oshita Tojiro at age 16. Moved to Tokyo in 1903 and to the United States in 1906. 1907, debuted with his graduation piece from Tokyo University of the Arts, "Nude Beauties" (now a registered important cultural property). Was involved with Fuzankai, the brought about a new era of contemporary Japanese prints, and helped bring about the modern art style of powerful colors and bold brush strokes. From the summer of 1914, returned to his hometown to focus on painting. Placed himself in a location isolated from art trends and began cubism-like experiments.

After this concentrated period of experimentation, he returned to Tokyo. From 1917, created many works  and submitted pieces he made in his hometown to the Japan Artists Association Exhibition, and also submitted the cubist piece "Person standing against something" to the Nika Exhibition. 1919, moved to Chigasaki, Kanagawa due to neurosis. His art style changed soon after and his interest moved to traditional Japanese prints. Created oil paintings and ink paintings, and an interpretation of traditional arts can be seen in his Western style paintings.

Passed away in 1927.