
Tsurusawa Tangei was the son of Tsurusawa Tanzan (1655–1729), who founded the Tsurusawa Kyo-Kano school, a branch of the influential Kano school that effectively served as the official painting school of the Edo period. As a teenager, Tangei moved with his father to Kyoto and assisted him in the creation of sliding screen paintings for the imperial palace. In 1747, the emperor honored Tangei by appointing him to hōgen, the second-highest rank for a painter.