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Shozan then sent one of his chief retainers, [[Odano Naotake]], to [[Edo]], to live and study with Gennai for five years. It is believed that he likely came into contact with a number of other artists and ''rangaku'' scholars during this time; following his return to Akita, he and Shozan composed three treatises on Western style painting. These were among the first of their kind to be produced in Japan. One of these, Shozan's [[1778]] essay ''Gahô kôryô'', is considered the first Japanese essay to attempt to set down the rules of Western-style depiction (i.e. perspective and other aspects of Western painting and drawing). In it, Shozan suggests weaknesses or failings in traditional Japanese painting techniques, pointing out that these cannot distinguish a sphere from a circle, nor depict a boat on a river in such a way as to definitively depict it as near or far. Shozan then claims that Western painting techniques allow one to overcome all of these failings.

Shozan then sent one of his chief retainers, [[Odano Naotake]], to [[Edo]], to live and study with Gennai for five years. It is believed that he likely came into contact with a number of other artists and ''rangaku'' scholars during this time; following his return to Akita, he and Shozan composed three treatises on Western style painting. These were among the first of their kind to be produced in Japan. One of these, Shozan's [[1778]] essay ''Gahô kôryô'', is considered the first Japanese essay to attempt to set down the rules of Western-style depiction (i.e. perspective and other aspects of Western painting and drawing). In it, Shozan suggests weaknesses or failings in traditional Japanese painting techniques, pointing out that these cannot distinguish a sphere from a circle, nor depict a boat on a river in such a way as to definitively depict it as near or far. Shozan then claims that Western painting techniques allow one to overcome all of these failings.

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