Yoshida Hodaka was Yoshida Toshi's younger brother. He was born in 1926, so 15 years after his only brother. Whereas his older brother Toshi soon followed in his father's (Yoshida Hiroshi's) footsteps, Hodaka was not encouraged to follow an artistic career. In fact his father was shocked when he learned that Hodaka wanted to be an abstract painter. His father died soon after, in 1950, and after a painting career Hodaka turned to printmaking, and in the words of Eugene M. Skibbe (A Japanese Legacy, Four generations of Yoshida family artists) "emerged as a leader among Japanese print artists".
