Born on June 13, 1861 (Bunkyu 1) as the eldest son of Shirase Chido, chief priest of Joren-ji, a Jodo Shinshu Honganji temple in Kanoura Village, Yuri District, Dewa Province (today Nikaho, Akita). His childhood name was Chikyo. As a boy, hearing stories of polar exploration from his teacher Sasaki Sessai, at 11 he swore the 'five abstentions' (sake, tea, fire, hot bath, mochi) and resolved to be a lifelong explorer. He entered the Army Training Corps in 1879 and joined the Imperial Guards Cavalry Regiment in 1881. In 1894, with Kodama Aizaburo of the Hoko Gikai, he took part in an expedition to Shumshu, the northernmost island of the Kurils, staying three years and gaining experience in northern exploration. On November 29, 1910 (Meiji 43), aiming to reach the Antarctic continent, he set sail from Shinagawa Port with a crew of 27 on the wooden sailing ship 'Kainan-maru' (204 tons), named by Admiral Togo Heihachiro. Entering the Antarctic Ocean via Wellington, in the first year they were blocked by drifting ice and retreated to Sydney. On a second attempt from November 1911, they reached the Antarctic, and on January 28, 1912, a five-man dash team with 28 sled dogs reached 80°05'S, 156°37'W, naming it 'Yamato Yukihara' (Yamato Snowfield) and raising the Rising-Sun flag. Amundsen's party had already reached the Pole on December 14, 1911, and Scott's party was also marching toward it; Shirase's team recorded not the Pole but its own destination, the 'Yamato Yukihara.' Returning home on June 20, 1912, he was welcomed as a national hero, but the debt for the expedition (total 120,000 yen, worth several billion today) remained, and for the rest of his life he toured Japan, Sakhalin, Korea, Manchuria, China, and Taiwan with films and lectures to repay it. At 74 in 1931 he finally paid it off. On September 4, 1946, he died of intestinal obstruction at 85 in Nishio Town (today Nishio, Aichi).

An explorer with indomitable spirit and conviction. His strength of will in keeping his childhood vow at 11 throughout his life is rare in Japanese history. As a soldier and explorer his discipline, courage, and endurance were first-class, and he became a national hero on reaching the Antarctic, but after his return he was chased by debts and lived a difficult late life. Even so he continued to speak of the meaning of exploration, giving hope to the next generation of polar explorers.

Shirase Nobu is internationally known as one of the 'Three Greats of Antarctic Exploration History' alongside Norway's Amundsen and Britain's Scott. His expedition was Japan's first participation in polar exploration, the source of the tradition leading to the postwar Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (Showa Base, Asuka Base). In Nikaho, Akita is the 'Shirase Antarctic Expedition Memorial Museum,' holding a model of the Kainan-maru, his personal effects, and the documentary film. In Nishio, Aichi stands the 'Shirase Antarctic Expedition Leader's Grave Marker.' 2012 was the 100th anniversary of the Antarctic reach, with commemorative events held at home and abroad.