Goto Mitsuaki was born in Bunka 13 (1816) as the third son of Goto Mitsuyoshi, the fifteenth head of the Goto main line, who bore the art name Shinjo. In the seventh month of Tempo 6 (1835), upon his father's retirement at the age of fifty-six, Mitsuaki succeeded to the family headship, assumed the hereditary name Shirobei Mitsuaki, and became the sixteenth and penultimate master of the Goto soke. He died in the sixth month of Ansei 3 (1856) at the age of forty-one, having served as head for twenty-one years. His childhood name was Mitsutoshi; his common names included Shinjiro and later Gennojo. According to his own records, in Tempo 8 (1837) he manufactured Tempo five-ryo gold coin issues and produced 1,887 pieces of oban large gold plates by shogunal order. Mitsuaki is universally regarded in evaluations as possessing the finest technical skill among the successive generations from the twelfth master onward, a judgment repeated with striking consistency across his designated works.
Mitsuaki's oeuvre is dominated by and mitsudogu sets executed in the canonical Goto iebori idiom: grounds, with gold and silver , and ' gold-foil backing on the reverse. His chromatic planning is noted for its deliberate sophistication; beyond painstaking gold and silver , he introduced to impart what the characterizes as a rustic, natural accent (yashu), and on occasion employed -do, a scarlet copper rarely seen within the Goto tradition. His are carved in nikubori or yobori with wari-giwa hashi- split signatures, and the and bear his full inscription "Goto Shirobei Fujiwara Mitsuaki" with . His signature conventions are handled with notable sophistication, with the long form reserved for especially careful, deliberate productions. Thematic range encompasses court implements, falconry accoutrements, seasonal festivals (sekku), salt-making landscapes, four-seasons flowers with shikishi papers, Sanbaso ritual dance figures, zodiac animals, and auspicious subjects such as Fukurokuju and Jurojin. The further observes a strong influence from aesthetics in the arrangement of figures and the expression of open space, suggesting the emergence of a new style of official Goto carving after the family's residence in had been formally established. His works are known for their rich, dense manner, yet individual sets are distinguished by extraordinarily meticulous treatment in monochrome black or by dignified, refined overall unity.
Across the body of designated works, the consistently applies such evaluative phrases as "elevated dignity," "lofty refinement," and "workmanship that may rightly be called a masterpiece." Mitsuaki's production is characterized as spirited and bracing, betraying not the slightest hint of the approaching conclusion of the unbroken Got line, which would end after only one more generation. His carving evokes "high mountains and deep valleys" in the Got family manner, and his chisel work is described as outstandingly accomplished. The commissioned by the Sannohe family, executed with court themes scattered across every fitting, each bearing , is singled out as a celebrated piece in which one can directly appreciate his technical excellence, with lacquer work conveying a deep, weighty presence and the set as a whole displaying workmanship of the highest order. That Mitsuaki could sustain this standard across both intimate and grand ensemble mountings confirms the 's recurring assessment: he represents the summit of Goto mainline craftsmanship in its final era, an artist whose technical command and refined sensibility gave the soke tradition its last full measure of creative authority.
