Born in 1892 in Kanda, Tokyo, to the family of a gynecologist. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University's Medical Faculty, ran his father's hospital, and devoted himself to haiku under Takahama Kyoshi. In the early Showa era he was acclaimed as one of the 'Four S of Hototogisu' alongside Yamaguchi Seishi, Awano Seiho, and Takano Sujyu. In 1931, unsatisfied with Kyoshi's 'objective realism,' he founded the journal Ashibi under the banner of 'the truth of nature and the truth of literature,' breaking with Hototogisu and pioneering the New Trends movement. From the Ashibi lineage emerged major disciples including Kato Shuson, Ishida Hakyo, and Nomura Toshiro. His distinctive style fused poetic lyricism with rigorous realism, leaving a major footprint on prewar and postwar haiku. He died on July 17, 1981, at 88.

He combined the cold observational eye of a physician with the lyrical sensibility of a man of letters. Though a pupil of Kyoshi, he went beyond his master's framework to forge his own path — a man of strong independent spirit. Strict yet warm-hearted in guiding his disciples.

The journal Ashibi, founded in 1928, continues as a major haiku journal to this day, and the Shuoshi lineage forms one of the great forces of modern haiku. His famous poems — 'The winter chrysanthemum wears only its own light' and 'A woodpecker — the trees of the pasture hurry to fall their leaves' — are included in Japanese textbooks.