 Watsuji was born in 1889, the second son of a physician, in Himeji City, in Hyogo Prefecture. He entered the prestigious First Higher School in Tokyo (now Tokyo University), in 1906, graduating in 1909. Later that same year, he entered Tokyo Imperial University, where his specialization was philosophy, in the Faculty of Literature. He married Takase Teru in 1912, and a daughter, Kyōko was born to them in 1914. 