Born in Yamabe District, Kazusa Province (Chiba), he was adopted as a son-in-law into the Ino family in Sawara, Shimousa Province (now Katori City, Chiba). While building wealth in sake and soy sauce brewing, he independently studied astronomy and mathematics. Retiring at fifty, he moved to Edo and became a student of shogunal astronomer Takahashi Yoshitoki—nineteen years his junior—systematically learning Western astronomy, calendar science, and surveying. From age fifty-five to seventy-two, over seventeen years and ten expeditions, he walked across the whole of Japan, covering approximately 40,000 kilometers—equivalent to circling the globe. His resulting 'Map of Japan's Coastal Areas' (215 sheets, at a scale of 1:36,000) was completed by his students in 1821, three years after his death. The maps displayed astonishing accuracy even by world standards of the time and constituted the first scientifically precise depiction of Japan's shape. Ino's achievement also became a trigger for the Siebold Affair of 1828. He remains a symbol of Japanese intellectual passion as the 'walking surveyor.'

Possessed both an insatiable thirst for learning that drove him to start new studies past 50, and the indomitable stamina to walk for 17 years. Meticulous and precise, his survey records were extraordinarily detailed.

His map of Japan, the first based on actual surveys, astonished even Siebold with its accuracy. His late-life achievement has become a symbol of the idea that it is never too late to pursue one's dreams.