Little is known about the life of Nagashima Shungyō. Chaikin and the Tahara Municipal Museum state he was the son of Utagawa Yoshitora (fl. c. 1836-1882). Chaikin also writes that he called himself Mōsai after 1874 and was also known as Utagawa Shungyō. Most of his known prints are of the Sino-Japanese War or kaika-e (prints of modernisation and Westernisation).