The family started out as court painters, but the 12th head, Nagamochi, became a priest painter of Buddhist images in Kofuku-ji Temple, and his descendants continued in the same profession.
もとは宮廷絵師であったが、第十二世永有が興福寺大乗院の絵仏師になって以降、子孫と絵仏師として家系を繋いだ。