He was born to a wealthy farmer's family in Ishiuchi-mura, a farming village located over one mountain from Hiroshima City, but his father went bankrupt because he co-signed a loan, and the family split up when he was 14 years old.
石内村は広島市内から一山越えた農村で豪農の家に生まれるが、父が借金の連帯保証人になったことで破産し、14歳の頃に一家は離散。