Takeuchi Seiho was born in Kyoto and pursued his career there, becoming perhaps that city's best known modern painter. In Kyoto the Maruyama-Shijo schools of painting were the dominant legacy from the Edo period, and Seiho's initial training began in 1881 with Shijo school painter Kono Bairei (1844-1895). In 1882 Seiho began to compete in government-sponsored competitive exhibitions, through which he made a name and began his rise to the top of the Kyoto art world. He also sent his paintings to the competitive exhibitions held by the Japan Art Institute, the Inten. Seiho spent 1900-1901 studying painting in Europe, where he was particularly impressed with the works of Corot and Turner. In 1920-1921 Seiho traveled to China. He taught many of Kyoto's successive generations of modern painters in his own studio, and as a teacher at the Kyoto Municipal High School for Arts and Crafts and the Kyoto Municipal College of Painting. In addition, he served as a judge for several of the competitive exhibitions including Bunten and Teiten, he supported the Japan Art Institute in some of its conflicts with the Ministry of Education, he was elected a Court Artist in 1913, and was among the first to be awarded the Order of Cultural Merit in 1937.