Toshi Yoshida was born as the eldest son of Hiroshi Yoshida, one of the leading Shin Hanga masters. Raised in a family of painters and printmakers, Toshi was surrounded by art from childhood. He studied with his father from the age of fourteen. From 1932 to 1935, he also enrolled at the Taiheiyo-Gakai (Pacific Painting Association) which had been co-founded by his father. Before the Pacific War, Tôshi traveled widely with his father in Asia, Europe, Egypt, and the United States. In subsequent years, he continued to travel on his own, especially in Mexico, the United States, Canada, and Africa. He remained in his father's studio (established in 1925) until Hiroshi's death in 1950 and ran the family operations thereafter. After Hiroshi’s death in 1950, Toshi briefly experimented with abstract and non-objective art, before returning to realistic landscapes and nature subjects—genres that defined much of his career.