Born in Asakusa, Tokyo. His given name was Shiro. At fourteen he entered the studio of Kaburaki Kiyokata to study nihonga. On Kiyokata’s advice he is said to have begun making prints around 1916, and in 1919 Watanabe published his Seiran. From the 1960s he also cut and printed his own blocks. He remained active in the Tatsumi Gakai and the Kyodokai. He is known for work that renders the Tokyo of the Showa era with great feeling in clear, translucent colour. After the war he left Watanabe Shozaburo and published his prints through Unsodo.