While earning his living through selling books and selling In (an object on top of which a seal pattern has been carved), he went to Edo and studied under Shibutsu OKUBO, and learned from Rinkoku HOSOKAWA how to carve Tensho-style Chinese characters.
売書売印の生活をしながら、江戸に出て大窪詩仏の門下となり、細川林谷に篆刻の法を受ける。