Eishi was born as the first son of direct vassal of the Shogunate, a well-off samurai family that was part of the Fujiwara clan. He studied classical painting under Kan? Michinobu, head of the prestigious elite Kan? school, and was appointed as a personal painting companion to Shogun
Later, Eishi left his employ with the Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu to embrace popular urban art.
Specializing in portraying the cheerful and refined life of Edo, Eishi first produced prints strongly influenced by the ideal female figure created by Kiyonaga; later, with the decline of that master's star and the rise of Utamaro's, he developed a more personal style, characterized by great elegance and grace.
Before the end of the century, he stopped producing designs for prints and dedicated himself exclusively to painting.