Hirata Shodo
Shodo Hirata was born in 1882 in Ushigome, Tokyo. He was the second son of Count Hirata Tosuke, who was a Japanese statesman and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan, active during the Meiji and Taishō periods of the Empire of Japan. After studying under Kawai Gyokudo, he entered the Tokyo Academy of Fine Arts in 1901 and graduated in 1906.