[1] At Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Satoh studied music history with Tatsuo Minagawa and guitar with Kazuhito Ohosawa.
In 1968, Satoh came to Europe; he studied lute with the pioneering lutenist Eugen Müller-Dombois at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland.
He also performs in a lute duet, named Ayumi, with his daughter Miki Satoh (born in the Netherlands in 1989, and currently studying chemical science and engineering at Ariake National College in Japan); they recorded a recital for Carpe Diem in 2010.
He has also taught numerous master classes in Italy (Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena), Germany, the US, Canada and Japan.
As a teacher of the baroque lute, he has advocated the use of gut strings with no metal admixtures, and of historically accurate performance techniques.