When he was 14 years old, he was repudiated by his parents due to wild debauchery, thereafter becoming a tedai (clerk) at a kashihon-ya (book-lending shop) and flourishing in the fields of kyoka (comic and satirical tanka), chaban (a farcical form of drama) and haiku.
14歳のときに道楽が過ぎて実家から勘当され、その後貸本屋の手代となり狂歌、茶番、俳句などで活躍。