Tanaka was born in Shunan on November 27, 1982. After graduating from Teikyo High School, he joined J1 League club Urawa Reds in 2001. He played many matches as forward from first season. The club won the champions in the 2003 J.League Cup and he was selected "MVP award" and "New Hero award". However he suffered for repeated injuries from late 2005 while the club won many title, 2005 Emperor's Cup, 2006 J1 League, 2006 Emperor's Cup and 2007 AFC Champions League. In 2012, he could not play many matches and left the club end of 2012 season. In 2013, he moved to Albirex Niigata. The club was relegated to J2 League end of the 2017 season.