Saito went to Kyoto and studied under Chu Asai and Takeshiro Kanokogi. In 1906, he went to France. After returning to Japan, he introduced the new European trends from Impressionism onwards to the Japanese art circles. In 1912, he formed Fusain-kai. In 1924, he founded Osaka Fine Arts School. That year, he also formed a group called Kaijusha and served as chief editor of the magazine Bijutsu Shinron. He was also active as an art critic.