He initially studied Tosa school painting at the Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō (the predecessor to the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music), under Kobori Tomoto.

While in school, his talent was recognized by Okakura Kakuzō who sent him to Nara to study classical paintings in the Yamato-e style.

While in Nara, he first viewed the ancient murals on the walls of the Kondo chapel of the Buddhist temple of Hōryū-ji, and this was to have a deep impact on his future style of painting.

From 1914, Yasuda assisted Yokoyama Taikan in re-establishing the Japan Fine Arts Academy (Nihon Bijutsuin).

Yasuda's works have been selected as the subject of commemorative postage stamps three times by the Japanese post office: