Goto Tsujo Mitsutoshi was the third son of Sennjo Mitsuharu of the Goto Tarouemon house, and a grandson of Kenjo, the seventh head of the main Goto line. He was born in 4 (1664), bearing the childhood name Mitsuo and the common name Gennojo. Because Mitsuyoshi -- the legitimate heir and eldest son of the tenth head, Renjo -- died of illness at the young age of twenty-five, Mitsutoshi married Renjo's daughter and was adopted into the main line. In Genroku 10 (1697), upon Renjo's retirement, he succeeded as the eleventh head of the Goto main house at the age of thirty-four. In Kyoho 5 (1720) he took Buddhist vows and adopted the art name Tsujo; however, he fell ill and died on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the following year. For this reason, works bearing the Tsujo signature are few and constitute valuable documentary material. The Goto main line had relocated from Kyoto to and settled there during Renjo's tenure; in Mitsutoshi's generation, responding to the prevailing Genroku taste, the house came under the influence of the newly prominent (town-carver) style. While maintaining the inherited traditions of iebori (the hereditary house carving), Mitsutoshi incorporated a fresh manner to meet contemporary demand.
Mitsutoshi's technical range encompasses the full repertoire of the Goto souke: grounds, solid gold (sokin) construction, gold crests (), high-relief carving (), and polychrome in gold and silver. His compositions display an individuality within the house tradition, including a left-right spreading arrangement said to have been first attempted by him. His is punched with exemplary regularity, and his filing marks () and signature chisel work bear an unmistakable hand. When working in monochrome gold, the forms are modeled with ample volume and cut crisply in relief, producing works of palpable mass and presence. He introduced novel touches such as a nunome-like variant of texturing on rock surfaces, adding a modern accent. On his , the backs are made thick and, because a large amount of gold is employed, they convey a notable sense of weight. His subjects range from the canonical Goto motifs -- (sprays of chrysanthemum), hai-ryu (crawling dragon), -ryu, and shishi (paired lions) -- to narrative scenes drawn from Chinese exemplars and seasonal themes of walnuts, autumn grasses, parent-and-child chickens, and Edomae marine delicacies, the latter reflecting the character of the Genroku milieu in which he worked.
The consistently evaluates Mitsutoshi as especially accomplished even within the Goto direct line, praising him as the master who brought new vigor to iebori by seasoning it with a flavor. His works are described as possessing the elevated dignity and refinement of the Goto family while achieving a refreshing effect distinctive to his generation. The recurring institutional assessment holds that his chisel work is broad and unhurried yet dignified in tone, the overall construction weighty, sparing neither labor nor material. Works transmitted in distinguished collections -- the Tsugaru family, the Matsudaira house of Izumo -- attest to the esteem in which his production was held by the warrior aristocracy. Where he assembled earlier masters' work, as in the celebrated uniting gold crests of the Upper Three Generations, the coordination and harmony among disparate elements is praised as deftly achieved. His chisel work is at times described as notably archaic in feeling, suggesting a conscious regard for his grandfather Kenjo. Through these qualities, Mitsutoshi stands as the pivotal figure who bridged the austere formality of the classical Goto house tradition and the more expressive, culturally responsive idiom that defined the school's work throughout the middle and later period.