Yasuji Inoue (1864-1889)  was the best student of Kiyochika Kobayashi. He could have become a great master of Japanese printmaking of the Meiji era. But he died at the age of only 25.

Inoue Yasuji, born in Tokyo to the proprietor of a dry goods store, potentially attended Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's printmaking school at a young age, although this is uncertain. At the age of 14, he became a student of Kobayashi Kiyochika, a significant figure in traditional Ukiyo-e art who incorporated Western elements into his work while maintaining Japanese artistic values.

Yasuji Inoue was exposed to this fusion of traditional and Western art concepts in his master's studio.