Renzan lived in Kyoto and was a pupil of his father-in-law Kishi Ganku, by whom he was adopted. He became known as Gantoku after taking the first character gan of his father-in-law's name and the toku of his own given name.
Ryuko-zu [dragon and tiger paintings] are a type of painting whose subject is a dragon and a tiger standing against each other. This concept was originally based on the ancient Chinese legends in which the Blue Dragon (god of East) and the White Tiger (god of West) were mentioned as two of the four guardian gods of the cardinal points.