Sō Shiseki (1715-1786) was born in Edo. He was a painter of the mid-Edo period. His achievements as a young man are unknown.
In the mid-40s, during the Horeki era, he went to Nagasaki to study painting under Kumashiro Xionghui and learn the painting techniques of Shen Nanpohin, and later became a student of the Qing painter Song Zhiwan, who had arrived in China. He took the Chinese name Sung Zi-shi from his master’s name.
He specialized in realistic flower-and-bird paintings and, along with Tsurutei, was one of the leading painters of the Nanpohin school.
