Takaki Seikaku

, was a Japanese calligrapher. He was male and held the rank of Junior Third Rank (Jūsanmi) and was awarded the Order of Culture. His real name was .

He served as the president of the Chōyō Calligraphy Association, advisor to the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition (a public-interest incorporated association), and senior advisor to the Japanese Calligraphy Institute. He was also the highest advisor to the Yomiuri Calligraphy Association and was recognized as a Person of Cultural Merit. Throughout his career, he held many important positions, including director of the Japan Calligraphy Institute, director and permanent general affairs officer of the Yomiuri Calligraphy Association, and executive director of the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition (a public-interest incorporated association). He also served as a councilor of the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition.

Career

Early life and education Born in 1923 in Sōja City, Okayama Prefecture, Among his classmates was Makoto Munemori, an authority on environmental chemistry who later became an emeritus professor at Osaka Prefecture University. After graduating from the school, Takagi worked at a company and, just before the end of World War II, served for over a year in the military in Tokyo before returning to his hometown.

After the war, he turned to calligraphy as a lifelong pursuit of learning. While working for 20 years at his father's securities firm, he studied under the calligrapher Tsurunobu Uchida in 1947. He researched ancient Chinese and Japanese calligraphy, and he was praised for establishing a modern style that infused deep emotion, particularly as a practitioner of kana calligraphy.

Career as a calligrapher Under the guidance of Tsurunobu Uchida, Seikaku Takagi studied classical calligraphy and established his own distinctive style, focusing primarily on kana script. He inherited the Chōyō Calligraphy Association, founded by Uchida, and served as its president for many years.In 1982, he became a member of the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition (Nitten), and in 1991, he was awarded the Prime Minister's Award at the same exhibition. Further recognition followed in 1995 when he received the Japan Art Academy Prize, and in 2006, he was selected as a Person of Cultural Merit. Later, he was awarded the prestigious Order of Culture.

Upon being named a Person of Cultural Merit in 2006, he remarked: 2017, February 24: Posthumously awarded the Junior Third Rank (Jusanmi).