Yosa Buson
Around 1736 Yoshimune began relaxing Japan's isolation policy and Chinese cultural imports increased, in particular via the port of Nagasaki. Catalogues of imported copybooks testify to a broad appreciation of Chinese calligraphers among the Japanese literati who pursued the "karayō" style: "traditionalists" studied Wang Xizhi and Wen Zhengming, while "reformists" modeled their work on the sōsho style of calligraphers such as Zhang Xu, Huaisu and Mi Fu. In terms of "wayō", Konoe Iehiro contributed many fine kana works but generally speaking, "wayō" style was not as vigorously practised as "karayō" at that time. Nevertheless, some examples have been preserved by scholars of , or poets and painters such as Kaga no Chiyo, Yosa Buson or Sakai Hōitsu.