Tadashi Ohashi studied at Tokyo College of Art and Technology. He worked in an Osaka department store and an advertising agency. From 1945 on, he worked as a freelancer on posters, press advertising, book jackets and illustrations. His trademark of a cat’s head represents a sublime achievement of synthesis of an organic shape and abstract form, quite in contrast to the more traditional renderings of the fish on a mat, where, however, the contrast of textures is most subtle and effective.