Kido Takayoshi
Seiko is notable for her established and well-recognized career during the Meiji period, as well as her reputation within the primarily male literati school. Early in her career, she changed her name from Setsuko to the gender-neutral Seiko. Her work has been characterized as "masculine" in both painting and calligraphy, which may be attributed both to the liberal lifestyle she maintained and the role of women painters at the time. Seiko was also noted for wearing masculine clothing and short hair, deliberately eschewing a feminine persona. As a famous female bunjin (literati artist) artist, she is renowned for earning her own success with her art without literary or artistic connections, much like her contemporary Noguchi Shohin. Both artists also omitted the feminine character ‘joshi’ in their signatures, like many female artists. She and Noguchi Shohin were friends of the statesman Kido Takayoshi and they enjoyed his patronage. Kido and the two of them would create gassaku which are collaborative paintings that include both pictures and text.