 Mochitsura Hashimoto was born in 1909 in Kyoto, Japan, the eighth of nine children and fifth son of a kannushi (Shinto priest). He attended Kyoto Third High School, a prestigious school, where he performed well. In his youth he was described as self-possessed and respectful. At the behest of his father, he applied for the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy. The family did not have a naval background, but Hashimoto's father struggled financially on a priest's government subsidy and he felt entering his son into the military would help to provide for them. One of Hashimoto's older brothers subsequently attended the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Army. Hashimoto graduated from high school in 1927 and was accepted into the Naval Academy. Leaving home for the first time, Hashimoto then attended the naval academy at Eta Jima for four years, studying Japanese history, engineering, and naval tactics, as well as judo and other military athletics. He graduated and commissioned in 1931.
