Kato Toichi was born in Gifu City and studied Japanese-style painting at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Among his teachers were Yuki Somei (1875-1957) and Kawasaki Shoko (b. 1886). His brother, Eizo, was also an artist. Kato Toichi traveled widely, in 1962 to Europe and Egypt, and in 1968-1969 to India and Nepal. He is known for his landscape paintings.