Although he became a disciple of Goshun MATSUMURA of Kyoto Shijo-ha school at the age of 22, and competed with Keibun MATSUMURA, Toyohiko OKAMOTO and others in obtaining fame, Kaisen influenced by Sanyo RAI eventually changed his specialty to nanga.
22歳のとき、京都四条派の松村呉春に入門し、同門の松村景文や岡本豊彦らと名声を競ったが、やがて頼山陽に感化され南画に転向。