Shinoda Kaishin (篠田芥津)
Kaishin SHINODA (male, 1821-1902) was a tenkokuka (artist of seal engraving) who was active in Kyoto in the Meiji period.
His name was Toku, his azana (adult male's nickname) were Rokkichi, Jikishin and Takao, and Kaishin was his pseudonym. He was from Kaisuimura, Mino Province.
Brief biography
He learned seal engraving under Rekido ABEI. He is also said to have been a disciple of Fuetsu SUZUKI (1816-1886). He followed the inho (sealing way) of Wen PENG and He ZHENG, conforming to the old style of Qin-Han. Having been influenced by the books on tenkoku (engraving letters on the material of a seal) shipped from Qing, he adopted the styles of Chinese tenkokuka.
His tensho-tai (seal-engraving style of writing Chinese characters) related to 八体・新の六体 was very unique and was called 'Kaishin's hatsu character.'
First he went to Edo and became a fully-fledged tenkokuka, and then moved to Kyoto to live in Yanaginobanba. He carved many seals for famous people including oshirushi (seal used by the Imperial family) for Meiji Emperor and seals for Sanetomi SANJO. Many people wanted to learn under him. However, he approved only a few of them to become disciples such as the brothers of Senro KAWAI and Shoseki KAWAI.
In 'Koinjinden' in China, he is introduced as a person of '性豪逸、多奇行.'
He was extremely organized and wanted to have everything neat. For example, when he walked, he had to walk on the center of the road and turn at a right angle. The position of his bedclothes was determined precisely by counting the number of the grain of a tatami mat, which was kept very strictly. He determined the number of footsteps from the gate of his house to a road, and he kept going back and forth between his house and the road until he could reach the road with the right number of footsteps. He cut each of the letters of 'A Song of an Old Cypress' written by Li Po (Rihaku) in gyosho (a style of handwriting) and mount them with lining them straight to hang on the wall. These actions indicate that he might have an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Inpu (compilation of seal marks)
"Ichijiturokujikokisshosodo Inpu" (1901)