In 1894, he took over Seikokan Painting School of Hosui and with Keiichiro KUME, started a Western painting school, Tenshin Dojo, and established an idiom called pleinairism which adopted the influence of impressionism.
1894年には芳翠の生巧館を譲り受け久米桂一郎と共に洋画研究所天心道場を開設し、印象派の影響を取り入れた外光派と呼ばれる作風を確立させた。