In Song Dynasty and later when tenkoku (seal carving using special Chinese characters, Tensho) by men of literature became popular, cherished motto, Chinese poetry, religious phrases and refined sentences came to be used as inmon.
宋代以降に文人による篆刻が盛んになると、座右の銘や漢詩、宗教的な語句、風流な文などを印文とするようになる。