Printmaker Toru Mabuchi (also known as Thoru Mabuchi) was born in Tokyo in 1920. He first studied woodblock printmaking under his father, artist and pioneer of modern woodcutting and airbrush techniques, Rokutaro Mabuchi, before entering the Tokyo University of Fine Arts. There he studied under sosaku hanga artist Unichi Hiratsuka. He graduated in 1941, just as Japan entered World War II.

Mabuchi became known for the unique style he developed after the war, often using a mosaic-like pattern that was nearly Pointillist in nature, with the use of small, thin squares of wood glued to the block. Every color wood need its own "tiled" block, thereby making the process more laborious and his editions small. 

Mabuchi exhibited at the 1962 Tokyo International Print Biennale, and he taught at Hiroshima University. He died in 1994.