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Through Bairei, Seihô first began to move in Kyoto's more elite artistic circles, meeting many of the most prominent professional painters in the city. Only two years after beginning to teach Seihô, Bairei in [[1883]] assigned him to help those students who were having difficulty, and shortly afterwards secured a position for Seihô to teach formally at the [[Kyoto Prefecture Painting School]] which Bairei helped establish in [[1880]]. Bairei also helped Seihô get his work shown at formal exhibitions, but at first it did not attract much attention; Bairei also took Seihô along with him on various high-end commissions, including one when Bairei produced records of a [[Higashi Honganji]] abbot's journeys in the [[Hokuriku region]].

Through Bairei, Seihô first began to move in Kyoto's more elite artistic circles, meeting many of the most prominent professional painters in the city. Only two years after beginning to teach Seihô, Bairei in [[1883]] assigned him to help those students who were having difficulty, and shortly afterwards secured a position for Seihô to teach formally at the [[Kyoto Prefecture Painting School]] which Bairei helped establish in [[1880]]. Bairei also helped Seihô get his work shown at formal exhibitions, but at first it did not attract much attention; Bairei also took Seihô along with him on various high-end commissions, including one when Bairei produced records of a [[Higashi Honganji]] abbot's journeys in the [[Hokuriku region]].

Seihô married Takayama Nami, the daughter of Takayama Ihei, a Nishijin textile merchant, in August [[1887]], and moved into a house across the street from his father's restaurant, which his father paid to have built. On this occasion, Bairei declared Seihô no longer a student, and now an independent painter in his own right. Embarking on his own, Seihô began acquiring patrons not only from among local Kyoto merchants, but also among those from the nearby provinces, who traveled into Kyoto regularly to settle accounts; one of his more major contacts came about through his wife, Nami, who was close friends with the wife of [[Iida Tojiro|Iida Tôjirô]], who headed [[Takashimaya]]'s studio for artists. Seihô produced numerous designs for Takashimaya tapestries and other high-end textiles, including some which were produced on commission from the Imperial Household.

 

Seihô married Takayama Nami, the daughter of Takayama Ihei, a Nishijin textile merchant, in August [[1887]], and moved into a house across the street from his father's restaurant, which his father paid to have built. On this occasion, Bairei declared Seihô no longer a student, and now an independent painter in his own right. Embarking on his own, Seihô began acquiring patrons not only from among local Kyoto merchants, but also among those from the nearby provinces, who traveled into Kyoto regularly to settle accounts; one of his more major contacts came about through his wife, Nami, who was close friends with the wife of [[Iida Tojiro|Iida Tôjirô]], who headed [[Takashimaya]]'s studio for artists. Seihô produced numerous designs for Takashimaya tapestries and other high-end textiles, including some which were produced on commission from the Imperial Household; Seihô showed in Takashimaya's seasonal Nihonga exhibitions every spring and autumn, as well as for numerous special events as well. Later, his students were able to show work at Takashimaya's

 

Seihô had seven children with his wife, Nami, of which three daughters died before the age of two. They, along with his students, lived together in the home which also served as his private studio, and his students were expected to contribute to the housework. This was a fairly standard arrangement, as was Seihô's active involvement in socializing with patrons and other friends out on the town, especially in the [[geisha]] districts. Yet, Seihô became especially known for his indiscretions. When one of his students, Mutobe Sadae (b. 1879), became pregnant, her father, the head of Mukô Shrine near [[Saga, Kyoto]], is said to have been outraged, to have accused Seihô of violating the master/student relationship, and to have demanded that Seihô deal with the consequences. This meant taking Sadae in. Sadae, who had taken the art-name Kihô, was given a separate home nearby. Her relationship with Seihô, despite the presence of his wife Nami, continued for more than thirty years after that; her relatively quiet home provided for Seihô a nice alternative from his own busy studio space. She adopted the first child she had by Seihô, pretending it was not his, in order to protect him; they had five more sons, who she had adopted by various friends or acquaintances of Seihô's. Their one daughter was born in [[1912]], but died at the age of five.

Seihô made his first and only trip to Europe in [[1900]]-[[1901]]. While there, he tried his hand at [[yoga|oil painting]], and developed a fondness in particular for the works of JMW Turner and Barbizon school painter Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.

Seihô made his first and only trip to Europe in [[1900]]-[[1901]]. While there, he tried his hand at [[yoga|oil painting]], and developed a fondness in particular for the works of JMW Turner and Barbizon school painter Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.

Though his works vary greatly, in many of his works, Seihô is said to have "liked to work with a limited palate [sic] of subtle gradation and relied upon the tactile quality of the picture plane to animate the surface and enliven the scene."<ref name=conant72>Conant. p72.</ref> Combining the brushwork style of the [[Maruyama school|Maruyama]]-Shijô schools of traditional ink painting with elements of Western painting methods, he created his own distinct style for painting landscapes and other subjects.

Though his works vary greatly, in many of his works, Seihô is said to have "liked to work with a limited palate [sic] of subtle gradation and relied upon the tactile quality of the picture plane to animate the surface and enliven the scene."<ref name=conant72>Conant. p72.</ref> Combining the brushwork style of the [[Maruyama school|Maruyama]]-Shijô schools of traditional ink painting with elements of Western painting methods, he created his own distinct style for painting landscapes and other subjects.

Always quite prominent and active in the Kyoto art world, Seihô regularly served as a jury member for the [[Bunten]] from its establishment in [[1907]] onwards, and earned numerous awards for his own works at various exhibitions. He was named an [[Imperial Household Artist]]<!--帝室技芸員--> in 1914, and was commissioned by the Imperial Household Agency to produce a pair of screens commemorating the coronation of the Taishô Emperor.

Always quite prominent and active in the Kyoto art world, Seihô enjoyed many patrons from the textiles community, as well as other prominent local figures. One of these, [[Otani Kubutsu|Ôtani Kubutsu]]<!--aka Kôen, 1875-1943-->, abbot of Higashi Honganji, became Seihô's pupil for a time, and in 1914 convinced him to design a bronze fountain for the temple; the fountain, in the form of a lotus blossom, still stands today. Seihô maintained strong connections as well with the printing firm [[Unsodo|Unsôdô]], and designed many woodblock prints for the firm. In addition to his activities in the geisha districts, he was also an avid amateur practitioner of [[Noh]] chanting and dancing, and seems to have frequently attended the theatre. His sketchbooks include images of ''[[kyogen|kyôgen]]'' performances and ''[[ningyo joruri|ningyô jôruri]]'' puppets, and he is known to have entertained Tokyo-based [[kabuki]] actors such as [[Ichikawa Danjuro X|Ichikawa Danjûrô X]] when the troupes toured in the Kyoto area.

 

Seihô also regularly served as a jury member for the Bunten from its establishment in [[1907]] onwards, and earned numerous awards for his own works at various exhibitions. Communicating with major figures in the Kyoto exhibitions, and in the Tokyo art world, he combatted efforts by [[Okakura Kakuzo|Okakura Kakuzô]] to weaken or divide the Kyoto Nihonga community, and otherwise worked to keep the Kyoto community relatively strong and unified even as the Tokyo art world, at times, became more and more fractured.

 

He was named an [[Imperial Household Artist]]<!--帝室技芸員--> in 1914, and was commissioned by the Imperial Household Agency to produce a pair of screens commemorating the coronation of the Taishô Emperor. At the height of Seihô's career, he was so prominent a figure that Kyoto city officials frequently brought esteemed Japanese and foreign visitors to the city to meet with Seihô. Demand for his artworks, or for him to take one on as a student, was great, and many prominent figures, including politicians, court nobles, and painters from overseas, paid him visits; some of them he agreed to take on as students. He was also at one point offered a teaching position at the [[Tokyo School of Fine Arts]], but turned it down in order to remain in Kyoto.

 

 

Ironically perhaps, despite his reputation for this sort of promiscuity, and for generally spending too much time out drinking, with geisha, or at the theatre, Seihô was quite thoughtful and actively engaged when it came to his signature and his reputation or "image" as an artist; in his dealings with Takashimaya and numerous other firms and patrons, and in, for example, how he signed his paintings and where, he had a rather modern attitude, informed by understandings of commercialism and the art markets. He carefully managed his public and private personas, or, his public media image as different from his reputation within certain social circles, and within the art world. In 1910, he was commissioned by [[Hosokawa Moritatsu]], the founder of [[Eisei Bunko]], to produce a painting of a monkey which, along with paintings of [[Kannon]] and cranes by [[Yokoyama Taikan]] and [[Shimomura Kanzan]], would form a triptych.

Seihô received high praise from [[Kaburaki Kiyotaka]], a prominent Tokyo painter in his own right; Kiyotaka is quoted as saying "In today's painting world, if we were to find a ''meijin'' (master artist), it can be no one but Seihô. ... There is a good chance that Seihô is the very last ''meijin''."<ref name=conant72/>

He built a house near the temple of [[Kodai-ji|Kôdai-ji]] in Kyoto's [[Higashiyama]] district in 1929, and began spending considerable amounts of time in [[Izu]]; now 65 years old, he had begun to frequently suffer from pneumonia and the flu, and found the climate in Izu more comfortable. For a number of years, his student Kihô lived there with him.

He built a house near the temple of [[Kodai-ji|Kôdai-ji]] in Kyoto's [[Higashiyama]] district in 1929, and in 1937, along with [[Yokoyama Taikan]], became one of the first two Nihonga artists to be awarded the Order of Cultural Merit. He died five years later.

In 1937, Seihô, along with Yokoyama Taikan, became one of the first two Nihonga artists to be awarded the Order of Cultural Merit. He died five years later at the age of 78.

==References==

==References==