Tanaka Kyokichi was born in Wakayama Prefecture in 1892. As a youth, he studied under Nagahara Kotaro and Kobayashi Shokichi at the Hakubakai Institute's Haramachi branch school, and in 1911 entered the Tokyo School of Fine Art. A year later, Tanaka's watercolors were exhibited by the Fyuzankai society, which was disbanded the following year. During his studies at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, Tanaka shared a room with fellow artist and friend Fujimori Shizuo, and the two men, along with Onchi Koshiro formed a group known as the "Three Men of the Smile Society." From 1913 to 1915, the three men collaborated on a magazine project titled Tsukuhae (lit. "reflections of the moon") featuring various mokuhanga and short poems. 

During this period, Tanaka became critically ill with tuberculosis and was forced to return to his native Wakayama in 1914. However, he continued producing prints and poetry for Tsukuhae until his death in 1915 at the young age of twenty-three. The seventh and final issue of Tsukuhae was published shortly after Tanaka's death. Two months later, in December 1915, the two remaining members of the Smile Society mounted a memorial exhibition of Tanaka's works in Hibiya Hall, Tokyo. His illustrations for Hagiwara Sakutaro's Barking at the Moon was published posthumously in 1917.