Yoshihide Kiryu graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, after which he completed the master course at its graduate school. He won first prize in the wind instrument category at the 34th Music Competition of Japan. In 1966, he won a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Julliard School and the New England Conservatory of Music in the United States. Kiryu then joined the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 1968 and served as its principal oboist for 32 years until he left in 2000. After teaching at several music schools, including the Kunitachi College of Music, where he served as a lecturer, he is now an associate professor at the Tokyo College of Music and president of the Japan Bassoon Society.