His real name was Sakai Katsuhiro (酒井 勝宏). In 1957, he was introduced to Katsuichi Nagai, the editor of Garo at a book rental shop in his neighborhood and began working at Sanyosha. After training as an assistant under Michitaro Watanabe, he made his debut as a rental manga artist in 1960 with "Hissatsu Okugi" from "Kengo Gashu" (Sanyosha). He wrote for short story rental magazines such as "Ninpo Hiwa" (Sanyosha) and "Gunro" (Daiichi Productions), and was friends with TATSUMI Yoshihiro and other Garo creators. Later on, while working as an assistant for SHIRATO Sanpei, he published works primarily in "Garo" and "COM" to great acclaim. However, his valvular heart disease, from which he had suffered from since middle school, worsened, and he died on March 15, 1974, at the age of 30. Katsuichi Nagai later said, "He was the only disciple of Shirato Sanpei, but he died young... He was a genius who died young... I wish he had lived a little longer.”

For a long time, it was difficult to obtain a copy of his works, but in February 2001, Seirin Kogeisha published a 600-page collection of his works entitled "Saisetsu ni Mau" in a limited edition of 3000 copies.

ISHII Hisaichi named "Osen" as the best short story he had ever read.

In September 2021, a collection of his works selected by YAMAGISHI Ryouko was published by Chikuma Bunko. In her afterword, Yamagishi described Kusunoki's works as "depicting a major and universal world."