During the Edo Period, ukiyo-e prints were affordable enough that people could easily purchase them. Publishers were responsible for planning, advertising, and selling these prints. Sales depended on the publishers' ability to both anticipate public taste and trends and hire popular artists. One of these publishers was Tsutaya Jūzaburō, who helped Kitagawa Utamaro reach his potential as an artist of the popular bijin-ga (beautiful woman prints) and sold then-unknown Tōshūsai Sharaku's opulent ōkubi-e (literally “large head pictures") of actors printed with powdered mica, something that was not being made before. Tsutaya demonstrated outstanding production abilities.
In this exhibition, we highlight several ukiyo-e publishers from the Edo and Meiji periods, including Tsutaya Jūzaburō, Urokogataya Magobei and Nishimuraya Yohachi, two leading publishers based in Nihonbashi, and Matsuki Heikichi, who continued to produce prints into the Meiji period even as ukiyo-e declined. Enjoy the many yakusha-e (actor prints), bijin-ga, sumō-e (sumō prints), and landscape prints produced through the many creative strategies of these publishers.