At thirteen he entered the school of the Japanese-style painter Kiyokata Kaburaki, who gave him the name “Shinsui” after his birthplace of Fukagawa and after Kiyokata’s own name. At sixteen his work was selected for the Inten and he became independent as a painter. In the middle of the Taisho period he was drawn to the shin-hanga movement and worked on illustrations for magazines and newspaper fiction as well as on prints. Called the last painter of bijinga in the ukiyo-e line, he left a great mark on the history of modern Japanese art in the world of the “beautiful woman” picture. In 1970 he received the Order of the Rising Sun, Third Class. The Japanese-style painter Man’yo Ito was his son, and the actress Yukiji Asaoka his daughter.