Novelist. In 1908 he became a student of Tokuda Shusei and joined audited classes at Waseda University. In 1912 he published the magazine Kiseki (Miracle) with Hirotsu Kazuo and wrote Kanashiki Chichi (Miserable Father) in the first issue. He struggled with his slow writing pace and sickness, and to distract himself indulged in excessive alcohol use. Yet his shi-shosetsu novels (I-novels), which took themes directly from his own disastrous personal life, earned him recognition in the literary world.