Arao Yoshitsugu served as a bushō during the Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods.  He was a retainer of the Oda clan and the maternal grandfather of Ikeda Terumasa who served as the first lord of the Himeji domain in the Shikama District of Harima Province.

In 1508, Yoshitsugu was born as the son of Saji Tamesada, the lord of Ōno Castle in the Chita District of Owari Province.

Yoshitsugu succeeded to the family name of Arao Kotarō Akiyoshi, the lord of Kida Castle in the Chita District, who was killed during an invasion by Imagawa Yoshimoto of Owari Province.

Yoshitsugu served Oda Nobunaga and held the village of Arao, defending Kida Castle in opposition to the Imagawa forces.  Owing to an offensive by Yoshimoto in Owari in 1555, over the ensuing several years, many of those in the Chita District submitted to the Imagawa.  In 1560, in the wake of the Battle of Okehazama, Yoshitsugu is surmised to have been placed in a similar position so he retired.