In 1921, he began to teach himself oil painting. The inspiration to this technique was inspired by reproductions of Vincent van Gogh’s works. Later on, he was inspired by Kawakami Sumio’s woodblock prints, that by around 1927, he began to experiment with woodblock techniques. His first one-man show was in 1931, where he displayed his prints in Tokyo.
Munakata first really characteristic black and white prints, 'Nohi' ('Moorland Fires', 1935), were rapidly followed by 'Kojiki' and 'Bandafu'. His main focus was on Folk-Art and Shinto, which became his main focus on prints being produced. He would later on experiment with color woodblock.
