Issey Hatakeyama was born in Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa Prefecture in 1881, as the youngest child of three sons and three daughters. His ancestors were the Hatakeyama family of Noto Province whose first generation head was Mitsunori Hatakeyama, a shugo daimyo (provincial military governor who became a feudal lord) from Noto Province active in the Muromachi period. Counting from that time, Issey was the 18th generation, so he was originally from a very wealthy family.
However, his family fortune waned with the times and by the time of his early childhood he had fallen into poverty. His living conditions were so severe that instead of going to an elementary school close to his home, he went to Sado (Niigata), where his brother-in-law was living, to receive his support and attend higher elementary school (equivalent to the higher grades of current elementary school) there. In Sado there were no junior or senior high schools (both according to the former educational system), so he later returned to Kanazawa and graduated with the help of financial support from his brother-in-law. His brother-in-law also assisted with his university expenses, allowing him to graduate with a university education as well.
He recalled that when he was a child, he was so competitive and stubborn that he was later told by acquaintances “You really act like someone descended from a lord,” and that he did not care at all if others spoke badly of him.