Born the second son of Satake Yoshishige, a powerful daimyo of Hitachi Province. When the head of the prestigious Ashina clan of Aizu, Ashina Kamewamaru, died in early childhood, Yoshihiro was invited at the request of the Ashina retainers to become the clan's adopted heir in 1584 (taking the name Ashina Yoshihiro). However, there was strong resistance within the Ashina to Yoshihiro because of his Satake origins, and the clan split into pro-Satake and anti-Satake factions, falling into serious internal conflict. Amid this state of disunity, at the Battle of Suriagehara in 1589 the Ashina army suffered a catastrophic defeat against Date Masamune's lightning assault. Yoshihiro fled alone back to the Satake, and Aizu fell into Masamune's hands. Suriagehara was Masamune's greatest military triumph and marked the apex of his conquest of Oshu. Yoshihiro subsequently returned to Hitachi as a Satake kinsman and relocated to Akita when the Satake were transferred there after Sekigahara. He is said to have died around 1622.

An unfortunate lord who, as an adopted outsider, never gained full support within the clan. Forced into direct confrontation with the genius of Masamune, the loss of the Ashina name owed as much to the tide of the times as to any personal failing.

Remembered as the foil in the story of Date Masamune's rise. The fall of the Ashina transformed the political landscape of Oshu and sealed Masamune's conquest. Aizu would subsequently pass to Gamo Ujisato, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and eventually the Tokugawa.