the publisher who financed and oversaw the entire process—from discussing the subject of the print with the designer to putting the final print on the market. And fifth was the consumers, who played an active role also as their taste determined if the print would be a commercial success or not.
From the mid-seventeenth century onwards, prints were issued that focused on actors of the popular kabuki theater, beauties from the pleasure quarters, legendary samurai warriors and many other historical subjects. During the Edo period, tastes evolved and a demand for novel ideas resulted in the creation of new subjects like landscape prints and pictures of flowers and birds. It was the publisher’s responsibility and at the same time his challenge, to have a feeling for the trends of the time, producing his prints in unison with the consumer’s interests. The choice of the right print designer was vital. A designer could be brilliant and inventive—but if the consumer disliked his compositions or the choice of subjects, then the publisher most likely ended up in financial problems.
The large number of publishing firms existing in the Edo period reflects how vital and competitive the market was. Many publishing enterprises were short-lived, and little is known about most of them. During the three centuries that these prints were produced, well over a thousand publishers existed in Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Only two hundred left their trademarks on the prints, although we do not know their proper names. Of another 600 publishing firms, we know the names and locations, but that is about all. There are only about two hundred publishers for whom we know a few more details, for instance that they were members of the Picture Book and Print Publishers Guild (Jihon toiya). So, in the end we have detailed personal and historical information about only a few dozen publishing firms. The majority of print publishers and sellers were also active as book vendors. Several operated large shops and offered even publications of rival publishers who in exchange sold their publications. Such cooperation made sense in a bustling metropolis like Edo as it enabled a publisher to reach out to different locations in town in order to sell his products some distance away from his main premises without having to open another branch. Many publishers simply continued to feed the market according to the current taste, without taking the risk of trying out new themes or styles. If a publisher turned to lesser known print designers it was not always a sign of his willingness to support an unknown, possibly talented artist. Well-known designers charged higher prices for their images than lesser known artists. By engaging a popular designer the chance was raised that a publisher would be able to get his investment back, but he would have to invest more money upfront. Commissioning a lesser known print designer meant fewer investments but also assuming greater risk for failure of the operation. Those publishers who found the right balance between risk and security managed to survive.
1812 Kunitsugu The actor Nakamura Utaemon III as Kiyomizu Seigen in the play Kiyomizu Seigen omokage zakura, Nakamura Theater, III/1812. Ōban. Publisher: Suzuki Ihei. Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin.
1787. Kiyonaga Illustration of Nishimuraya Yohachi’s shop, from the book “Colors of the Threefold Morning” (Saishiki mitsu no asa) Ōban Publisher: Nishimuraya Yohachi Museum of Asian Art, National Museums in Berlin
Even though the print designer was not the only link in the chain, he was crucial for the success of a print. The designer was the flagship and face of the product. He was allowed to sign his work, helping consumers to identify their acquisition even after time. Like engravers and printers, print designers were also considered craftsmen and they went through a system of apprenticeship. Starting at a young age, aspiring students first copied their master’s works, then completed sketches by the master and assisted in cheap book illustrations. It was up to the master to decide when a student was ready for his coming-out. After years of training, the master supported the student’s first self-work, so to speak, and the student was finally allowed to sign as well. The student received a name from the master with usually one syllable deriving from the master’s own name. Utamaro’s student Tsukimaro, for example, had the same “maro” in his name. Toyokuni’s famous students Kunisada and Kuniyoshi but also minor students like Kunitsugu (1800–1861) received his “kuni.”
Being the student of a well-known print designer naturally helped careers advance. Chances were higher that such students found publishers for their designs, but the fees they would receive at the beginning were still small. Accounts from the late Meiji period (1868-1912) that are most likely also applicable to the Edo period, state that young designers had to cover half or even the entire costs of cutting the woodblocks (sashikin) and only if the designer was promising would a publisher bear the costs himself. As a standard, print runs were counted in hai (lit. cups) consisting of two hundred impressions. The actual number of print runs depended on the popularity of the design and it was common to directly produce several runs of popular designers’ prints. If more than two print runs of the young designer’s work were sold, i.e. over four hundred impressions, he received his garyoō, the painting charge. In the 1870s, Kunichika, the leading designer of actor prints at that time, received one Yen (=100 Sen) for a triptych of four actors in half-length that was afterwards sold for six Sen. The same composition by another designer would cost 75 Sen, one quarter less.
Late 1790s Toyokuni The actors Nakamura Denkurō IV and Matsumoto Yonesaburō I in unidentified roles. ōban. Publisher: Nishimuraya Chō. Collection Arendie and Henk Herwig.
1861 Kunisada The actor Bandō Kamezō I as Koike Gokutarō in the play Chiyo no haru Tosa-e no saya ate, Ichimura Theater, II/1861, from the series “Stylish Mirror Reflections” (Imayō oshi-e kagami) ōban Publisher: Fujiokaya Keijirō Collection Arendie & Henk Herwig, The Netherlands
Publishers in general tried to offer a wide range of products, aiming at consumers with a wide range of interests. These products changed over time in accordance with the consumers’ interest and the technical development. Technical limits did not allow printing in color until the 1730s/40s and earlier prints were therefore hand-colored principally with an orange lead oxide pigment (tan-e) to make them more appealing. With the introduction of color printing with two blocks (benizuri-e, lit. “pink-print pictures”) it was not long until multicolor printing was achieved in 1765. The so-called “brocade prints”(nishiki-e), were well received and sprang up like mushrooms. In the following decades, the printing process was further enhanced by developing special printing techniques such as the use of mica, gold, and silver simulating metal pigments, graduation, embossing, and lacquer-like printing.
Originally, prints were single-sheet compositions and this continued to be the chief item until the twentieth century. By the second half of the eighteenth century, multi-sheet compositions developed (mostly diptychs and triptychs) showing a single image that evolved over all sheets. Occasionally, larger compositions appeared consisting of five, six, even twelve sheets. Every period was dominated by a specific format that appealed most to the majority of consumers. The narrow hosoban format was preferred for actor prints during the mid-eighteenth century. At the same time, prints of beautiful women were produced in the medium chūban format. At the end of the eighteenth century, the large ōban format became the principal size, mostly vertically for figures and horizontally for landscapes. Smaller formats existed as well in sizes deriving from the oban format (one half, one quarter, etc.). Fan prints, pillar prints, and other formats appeared on the market for specific purposes. Uchiwa-e, fan prints, were meant to be cut along their margins and glued on a wood frame in order to be used. Pillar prints (hashira-e) are long and slender in order to be hung in the house for decoration purposes. Of course this could be done with other prints as well, however, pillar prints, once mounted, were an ideal alternative to costly scroll paintings placed in the alcove (tokonoma) that was, and to a certain extend still is, traditional to Japanese houses.
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