Isoda Koryusai is something of an anomaly among ukiyo-e printmakers. He was born in 1735 into the elite samurai class, in service of the Tsuchiya clan, facts that have led some to propose that Koryusai must have been forced to take up printmaking to survive after becoming a ronin (masterless samurai), though more recently others have concluded that Koryusai only became a ronin well after launching his printmaking career. Whatever the case, Koryusai was one of only a handful of print designers who came from this elite group in the history of ukiyo-e, and his background gave him a special status and certain unique interests, such as literary and historical works, as well as bird and flower subjects, especially falcons. Nevertheless, despite his great productivity and the status he enjoyed in his own time, Koryusai has been relegated to the "minor master" role in histories of ukiyo-e, largely because he dominated the field between two towering giants of ukiyo-e, Harunobu and Kiyonaga, in comparison to whom Koryusai has been characterized as more of a skilled follower than a creative innovator. Isoda Koryusai died in 1790.