Born into the family of a domain physician in Bungo (present-day Oita), he withdrew from public life out of dissatisfaction with the domain's government and took up the life of a literatus. He first painted in a fully developed Nanpin manner, but began working in the Southern School idiom at the same period. His friendships with literati and painters of Kyoto and Osaka, among them Rai San'yo and Aoki Mokubei, are said to have encouraged his interest in literati painting and in the orthodox Southern School method. The style he arrived at, uniting the study of Chinese painting with the observation of real scenery, is marked by a skilful composition that draws the viewer's eye into the picture.