Born in Okayama, Japan, he moved to Hawaii in 1900 with relatives. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, he moved to Chicago to study at the Chicago Art Institute before moving to New York around 1915. He exhibited his work at  the exhibition of New York Japanese Art Association in 1918 and at the exhibition of Japanese Art, sponsored by New York Shimpo in 1927.

He displayed “Reflection” in the Pennsylvania National Academy in 1921, and he held a solo show at the Arlington Gallery in 1922. He was awarded the Ménard Prize in the National Academy of  Design in 1926 for a painting titled, “Work.” The 1930s, he became a member of the Grand Central Gallery, where He left many works as a portrait painter. He was also friends with Gozo Kawamura, a sculptor from Nagano Prefecture. Inukai passed away in New York in 1954. His works were also exhibited at the Half Century of Japanese Artists in New York, 1910′-1950′  held at Azuma Gallery in 1977.

Reference: Half Century of Japanese Artists in New York, 1910′-1950′ ,(exhibition catalogue), Azuma Gallery(1977); Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Postwar 50 Years Japanese American Painters: A Half Century of Hope and Suffering, 1896-1945,(exhibition catalogue), Nippon Television Network Corporation (1995); Miyoko Davey (translated by Kyoko Selden), Kyohei Inukai, Portrait Painter: Confessions of a Pagan, Kibito Shuppan (2013); New York Shimpo; Nichibei Jiho.

The subject of this entry was featured in one of our digital exhibits, “Japanese Artists During the Prewar Period in New York City- Artistic Trace from the 1910s to the 1940s –”.