Shinohara Tooru was born in Niihama, Ehime. After graduating from high school on March 1955, he started working at a factory in Osaka making car parts but quit after only ten months. He studied manga via a mail-offered course and wrote to various manga magazines. In 1958 came his first commercially printed work Fukumenhakushi (覆面博士) and he began his career as a manga artist.