Born in 1900 in Kyoto, he studied at the Kawabata Gakko (private art school) and worked as illustrator at the Asahi Shiunbun Company. Already in his twenties, Kyoto-born Asahi Masahide joined and strongly supported the Nihon Sosaku-Hanga Kyokai, and was a founding member of the Nihon Hanga Kyokai. He was actively involved with most Hanga magazines in the 20s and 30s, and he contributed designs to the well-known series "One Hundred Views of New Japan".
In 1926, he founded a drawing company and started publishing the magazine Dessan. In the 1930s he went to Europe and USA to actively promote his art. In 1936 he adopted the name Asahi Yasuhiro.
In November 1948 he had an exhibition of his woodblock prints at the Shirokiya Department Store in Tokyo.
Asahi Masahide was also sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education as an organiser of Japanese print exhibitions and dedicating his life to disseminating knowledge about prints and printing process.
