Inagaki Tomoo was an engraver and sosaku hanga artist born in 1902 in Tokyo, Japan. During his tenure at the Okura commercial high school, Inagaki produced a variety of hanga and was an avid reader of Poems and Hanga, a monthly magazine created by Onchi Koshiro and Hiratsuka Un'ichi. He submitted multiple works for publication, all to no avail. Not to be deterred, Inagaki became a student of the two masters and began learning the art of woodblock printing in 1923. Inagaki graduated high school that same year and went to work for a steel corporation while continuing his artistic hobbies. 

Despite the reliability of work in the steel industry, the inner-pull to become an artist was stronger. Inagaki promptly quit his job and enrolled in a two-year program at the Tokyo Higher Technical School to become a full-time artist. A year later, in 1924, Inagaki's efforts were rewarded when one of his prints was selected by Poems and Hanga for publication; additionally, he was exhibited with the Nihon sosaku hanga Kyokai. In a matter of time, he was being invited to exclusive meetings with the magazine editors and contributing artists of Poems and Hanga, eventually becoming a regular contributor. Inagaki would later contribute to other magazines, including Ichimokushu, HANGA, and Kitsutsuki. His efforts were further recognized abroad in the Paris, Tokyo, and Lugano biennales. In time, Inagaki transitioned away from sosaku hanga towards commercial art. He studied briefly under Hamada Masuji and opened a studio in Tokyo until the onset of WWII. After the war, Inagaki worked as a free-lance, commercial designer and teacher until his death in 1980. Stylistically, Inagaki Inagaki's hanga bear a strong resemblance to Picasso, however, there is also considerable influence from both Onchi and Hiratsuka. Thematically his prints vary, but the majority of works produced post-WWII feature highly stylized images of cats.