Murata Seimin lived in Edo in the early nineteenth century. A specialist in Buddhist implements, he later made flower arranging utensils and was reknowned for his free-standing sculptures of turtles. At the time he was the first in Edo to perfect the technique of wax-model csting. Among his students was Kurihara Sadanori. He cast the five hundred arhats in the Kencho-ji temple in Kamakura.