Chiba was born in the city of Changchun, Jilin Province during the late Qing Dynasty . After graduating from Kobe Commercial High School in 1928, he joined the Hanzuma Tachibana Universal Union Film as an assistant director. In 1929, Chiba would be latter transferred to the Kawai Movie Negamo Photo Studio and in 1930, directed his first film debut called "Aojiroki hitobito". In the early days, he directed many historical films, and after working for Fukoku Film Company and Taiwan Production, Chiba joined Nikkatsu. Around this time, Chiba began to work on many contemporary dramas, and then moved to Nanpo Movies to work on the problematic work "Renga jokô", which depicts the interaction between Japanese craftsmen living in slums and Koreans living in Japan.