Tsutaya Jūzaburō
Tsutaya Jūzaburō (Japanese: 蔦屋 重三郎; 13 February 1750 – 31 May 1797) was the founder and head of the Tsutaya publishing house in Edo, Japan, and produced illustrated books and ukiyo-e woodblock prints of many of the period's most famous artists. Tsutaya's is the best-remembered name of all ukiyo-e publishers. He is also known as Tsuta-Jū and Jūzaburō I.
Tsutaya set up his shop in 1774 and began by publishing guides to the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. By 1776 he was publishing print series, and went on to publish some of the best-known artists of the late 1700s. He is best remembered for his association with
Life and career
Jūzaburō's father is believed to have been a member of the
Tsutaya opened his publishing business in Shinyoshiwara Gojukkendō Higashigawa in Edo in 1774 and began publishing with a volume of illustrations of Yoshiwara beauties by Kitao Shigemasa called Hitome Senbon ("Thousands at a Glance"); Tsutaya's other early publications were also guides to the pleasure quarters.
With the publisher Urokogataya, Tsutaya co-published the Yoshiwara Saiken ("Guide to Yoshiwara") from around 1774–75, and published it solo from 1776 to 1836
He moved his shop to
The
Tsutaya died at the age of 48 in 1797. Some sources claim the cause to have been
Legacy
Tsutaya is the best-remembered ukiyo-e print publisher, largely due to his promotion of Utamaro and as the sole publisher of Sharaku.[1] Richard Lane called him "the greatest of the print publishers".[6]
Tsutaya was well known[7] for his kyōka poetry, which he wrote under the pseudonym Tsuta no Karamaru.[1] He lodged writers and artists in his home, including Kyokutei Bakin, Santō Kyōden, and Utamaro, the last of whom still lived there at the time of Tsutaya's death.[7] His portrait appeared in at least five books during his lifetime, and his shop appeared in 1799 in Hokusai's Ehon Azuma Asobi ("Picture Book of the Pleasure Spots of the Eastern Capital").[1] His work is held in the collection of the National Diet Library.[8]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Marks 2012, p. 204.
- ^ a b Kornicki 1998, p. 219.
- ^ "One of Japan's major bookshop chains is named after a highly innovative trendsetting publisher of woodblock prints". Red Circle Authors, The Circle, Factbook. 3 January 2018.
- ^ Frederic, Louis. "Tsutaya Jūzaburō." Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002.
- ^ For more on Tsutaya, see Davis, Julie Nelson. "Tsutaya Jūzaburō: Master Publisher". Designed for Pleasure: The World of Edo Japan in Prints and Paintings, 1680–1860. Edited by Julia Meech and Jane Oliver. New York: Asian Society, 2008.
- ^ Lane, Richard. Images from the Floating World. Old Saybrook, CT: Konecky & Konecky, 1978. p. 127.
- ^ a b Kornicki 1998, p. 218.
- ^ "Gifts from the Ebb Tide". World Digital Library. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
Works cited
- ISBN 90-04-10195-0.
- ISBN 9780192114471; OCLC 5246796
- Marks, Andreas (2012). Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks: 1680–1900. ISBN 978-1-4629-0599-7.
- Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: