Biography(b 1584; d 1639). Japanese Shinto-Shingon Buddhist priest, painter and calligrapher. Together with KONOE NOBUTADA and Hon'ami Koetsu (see HON'AMI, (1)), he is known as one of the three Kan'ei no Sanpitsu ('Three Brushes of the Kan'ei era' (1624-44)). He began his religious training at the age of 17 at Mt Otoko, near Kyoto, at the Shinto-Shingon Buddhist sanctuary of Iwashimizu Hachimangu, of which he became abbot in 1628. In 1634 he relinquished his position and in 1637 retired to his residence, the Shokado (Pine Flower Hall), at one of the sanctuary's subtemples, the Takimotobo. He was highly respected by the Regent Konoe Nobuhiro, and by the leading intellectuals, priests and Confucianists of the day, such as KOBORI ENSHU, TAKUAN SOHO, ISHIKAWA JOZAN and Hayashi Razan (1583-1657). Shojo studied the Shoren'in calligraphy style.