Seiko Kawachi was born in 1948 in Yamanashi and graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Tama Art University in 1973. He was awarded the Grand Prix at the 44th Japan Print Association Exhibition in 1976, and since then, he has won the Grand Prix and the highest awards at printing exhibitions in Japan and abroad. In 1985, he studied at Columbia University in New York for a year as an overseas trainee of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. He also gave lectures and seminars on Japanese woodblock prints. Kawachi developed his technique for large woodblock prints and began using an image taken from Hokusai's "Great Waves" for the background of the flying chickens.
