The son of a watercolourist, Funasaka Yoshisuke graduated from the painting division of the Tama College of Fine Arts in 1962. In 1966 he started making woodblock prints, next to linoleum prints. In 1969 he became a member of the Nihon Hanga Kyôkai, (Association of Japanese Print Artists) and upon receiving a government fellowship he studied in UK and US in 1976-1977.
His work is instantly recognizable, though not always for the "good" reasons: from 1957 to the mid-70s he consistently included the shape of a lemon in his imagery, and later works practically always show a row of irregular multi-coloured oblong shapes. These were/are printed with woodblocks onto silkscreen-printed areas.
