Shiro started his painting studies with Kaburagi Kiyokata (1878-1972), who was a master of Bijin-ga (beauties). (ITO, Shinsui also was a student of Kiyokata.) It was Kiyokata who chose his artist name - "Shiro". His first blocks, done for Watanabe at Watanabe's request, were destroyed in the 1923 Kanto earthquake. After a brief hiatus, he resumed work with Watanabe in the early 1930s, concentrating on the landscape style that he preferred.

Post World War II, he ended his work with the Watanabe Company and moved to Unsodo, but it was not to last. In the late 1950s he decided to work on his own, drawing, carving and printing his own works, frequently signing the print in English and usually with edition numbers in pencil.