When he was eighteen years old Tomioka Eisen 富岡 永洗 started studying with Kobayashi Eitaku. During this period he started work as a freelance artist, next to his job as a draughtsman at the office of the army general staff. In 1890, when Eitaku died, he started as a full-time independent artist. He was very successful and was paid well by the magazines and publishers he worked for.
He was eager to be recognized as a "real" artist, and he won a silver medal at the first joint Japan Art Institute/Japan Painting Association exhibition, and he became a judge for future exhibitions. At the beginning of his career as a painter he died at age fory-one, while the kuchi-e movement was still in full flower.
