Yomikiri Romance 21. Public domain image of 1950s Japan.

Ito was born Hajime Ito (伊藤一, Itō Hajime) in the Asakusa district and began his training as a painter in 1890. His father was a metalworker, and he was also trained in ivory carving, and later in sculpture. At the age of 13, he adopted the pseudonym Seiu (Sino-Japanese reading of the kanji for the words 'clear' and 'rain'). Around 1907 he began to work for newspapers. In 1919, Ito hired a young art school model named Kise Sahara. Kise became Ito's second wife after she became pregnant and willingly posed for her husband. Ito became the target of censorship in 1930, which led to a decline in his fortune, and he lost his works in the Great Tokyo Air Raid. In 1960, he received an award from the Japan Artists Association (日本美術家連盟, Nihon Bijutsuka Renmei).