His father Hashiguchi Kanemizu was a samurai and amateur painter in the Shijō style.

His father hired a teacher in the Kano style of painting in 1899 when Kiyoshi was ten.

Kiyoshi took the name Goyō while attending the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, from which he graduated best in his class in 1905.

[citation needed] His first commission was designing the layout and illustrations for Natsume Sōseki's novel I Am a Cat in 1905.

This led to design of other books by Futabatei Shimei, Uchida Roan [ja], Morita Sōhei, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Nagai Kafū, and Kyōka Izumi.

He was especially interested in the great classical ukiyo-e artists and wrote several articles about Utamaro, Hiroshige and Harunobu.

Instead, he worked in 1916–17 as supervisor of reproductions for 12 volumes called "Japanese Color Prints" (Yamato nishiki-e) and in the process became thoroughly familiar with the functions of artisan carvers and printers.