Kitagawa studied in New York with John Sloan beginning in 1913 at the Art Students League, along with his compatriot Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1893-1953). He spent a decade in the United States, then studied in Mexico and taught at the Art School of Taxco. When he returned to Japan in 1936 his distinctive Mexican works attracted great attention. He went back to Mexico again only briefly in 1955 and 1956. Tamiji won the Mainichi Art Prize in 1964 and a retrospective exhibiton of his work was held at the Nagoya City Museum and at the Shizuoka Prefecture Art Museum in 1989.