After that, he studied philosophy at Tokyo Imperial University (renamed The University of Tokyo after the war), but because he was unsatisfied he transferred to Kyoto Imperial University (renamed Kyoto University after the war) School of Law in order to study under Hajime KAWAKAMI, who was quickly becoming committed to Marxist economics at the time.
続いて東京帝国大学（戦後の東京大学）で哲学を学んだが飽き足らず、高名な経済学者であり、当時急速にマルクス経済学に傾倒しつつあった河上肇に学ぶため、京都帝国大学（戦後の京都大学）法学部に転学した。