He studied philosophy during the heyday of the Kyoto School with Kitaro NISHIDA, Seiichi HATANO, Hajime TANABE, and Tetsuro WATSUJI, during which time he was greatly influenced particularly by Tanabe.
西田幾多郎、波多野精一、田辺元、和辻哲郎ら、京都学派の全盛期にそこで哲学を学び、特に田辺から多大な影響を受ける。