Born in 1716 (Shotoku 6) as the eldest son of the greengrocer 'Masuya' in Nishikikoji, Kyoto. His given name was Ito Genzaemon. 'Jakuchu' was an art name given to him by the Zen monk Daiten Kenjo of Shokoku-ji from the phrase 'Daiei jakuchu' ('Great fullness is as if empty,' Laozi, chapter 45). From childhood he loved painting and studied the Kano school and Song-Yuan painting on his own. He took over the family business at 23 but immersed himself in painting more than commerce, and in 1755 (Horeki 5), at 40, he passed the headship to his younger brother and retired into painting alone. His representative 'Doshoku Sai-e' (Colorful Realm of Living Beings), all 30 hanging scrolls, were made over about ten years from 1757 (Horeki 7) to around 1766 (Meiwa 3). 'Gunkei-zu' (Fowls), for which he kept dozens of chickens in his garden for thorough observation, and many other works on silk in vivid coloring depicting the vital force of animals and plants, became monumental works. From around 1758 to 1764 he dedicated 'Shaka Sanzon-zo' (three scrolls) at Shokoku-ji near his home, and later donated all 30 'Doshoku Sai-e' as well (now in the imperial collection at the Sannomaru Shozokan, designated National Treasures). In his late years he lost his Kyoto house in the great fire of Tenmei (1788) and retired in front of the Sekiho-ji in Fukakusa, where he was also involved in making the Five Hundred Rakan stone Buddhas. He died on the 10th day of the 9th month of 1800 (Kansei 12) at 85. His grave is at Sekiho-ji.

Born to the family of a great merchant, he showed no interest in business, kept his bachelorhood, and lived in painting alone — an eccentric. As his name 'Jakuchu' suggests, he sought a state beyond the worldly. The thoroughness of keeping dozens of chickens in his garden and observing them for hours, the extreme detail of his brushwork and bold composition, the fusion of realism and decoration — among the painters of the mid-Edo period, his originality stands out. At the same time he had deep ties to Zen, holding the Shokoku-ji Zen monk Daiten Kenjo as his lifelong teacher, and in his late years reached a Zen state of mind at Sekiho-ji.

Long forgotten, from the latter half of the 20th century there has been an explosive reassessment of him as an 'eccentric painter,' and today he is one of the representatives of Edo painting. His representative 'Doshoku Sai-e,' all 30 scrolls, are imperial treasures and National Treasures (Sannomaru Shozokan); 'Shaka Sanzon-zo' is an Important Cultural Property (Shokoku-ji); 'Birds, Animals, Flowers and Trees,' 'Trees, Flowers, Birds and Animals,' 'Cactus and Roosters,' and 'Great Roosters and Hens' and many others are held by museums around the world. In recent years, with the 2000 'Jakuchu Exhibition: 200th Anniversary of His Death' at the Kyoto National Museum and the 2016 'Jakuchu Exhibition: 300th Anniversary of His Birth' at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (with five-hour-long lines), the Jakuchu boom has become a social phenomenon. Sekiho-ji in Fushimi, Kyoto (his grave) is a major pilgrimage site.