Born in 1542 (some sources say 1544). He initially served Oda Nobutaka, but after the Honnoji Incident of 1582, when Nobutaka clashed with Hashiba Hideyoshi, Yoshikatsu turned against his former lord and sided with Hideyoshi, thereafter serving as a Toyotomi retainer. In the 1590 Odawara campaign he distinguished himself in the assault on Iwatsuki Castle, and for this was granted 22,000 koku at Ise Kameyama, taking up residence as its lord the following year, 1591. Yoshikatsu carried out a major renovation of Kameyama Castle — said to trace its origins to Seki Sanetada in the Kamakura period — rebuilding it into an early-modern fortress complete with a keep. In September 1594 he received an additional 15,230 koku within Suzuka District. At the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 he sided with the Western army, entrusting his castle of Kameyama to his son and entering Kuwana Castle, held by Ujiie Yukihiro, to make a stand. But after the Western army's defeat at the main battle, he was persuaded the next day by the Eastern commander Yamaoka Kagetomo to surrender and hand over Kuwana Castle; he was not pardoned, however, and was ordered to commit seppuku. He died by his own hand at age 58 (some sources say 59).

A commander with a pragmatic ability to read the shifting tides of the age, as shown by his switch of allegiance from Oda Nobutaka to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. At the same time he displayed real administrative skill in castle-building, rebuilding Kameyama into a proper early-modern fortress. At Sekigahara he showed the resolve to make a stand for the Western army at Kuwana Castle, yet also the flexibility to surrender once the outcome was decided — though in the end he was shown no mercy and met the harsh fate of forced seppuku.

The Kameyama Castle that Yoshikatsu rebuilt continued throughout the Edo period as the seat of the Ise Kameyama domain, and its surviving multi-tiered turret (tamon-yagura) is a Mie Prefecture Historic Site. Though Yoshikatsu himself met a tragic end at Sekigahara, the early-modern castle foundation he established was carried on by later lords, and the site went on to be selected as one of the Sequel 100 Fine Castles of Japan.