Nishimuraya Yohachi (dates unknown) was one of the leading publishers of

woodblock prints Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is create ...

in late 18th Japan. He founded the Nishimuraya Yohachi publishing house, also known as Nishiyo (西与), which operated in

Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The current ...

's Bakurochō Nichōme under the shop name Eijudō. The firm's exact dates are unclear, but many art historians date its activity to between . According to Andreas Marks, Nishimuraya is "one of the most important publishers in the history of prints and may be the publisher with the biggest output over time," attributing his success to "engaging the best artists and providing a broad range of prints to satisfy the public's interest." One of the press' most significant products was

Hokusai , known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the ...

's famous '' Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji'', which appeared between and the first two volumes of his exquisite ''

100 Views of Mount Fuji is a series of three illustrated books by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. It is considered one of Japan's most exceptional illustrated books (''e-hon''), and alongside the '' Hokusai Manga'', the most influential in the West. The first two volu ...

ehon is the Japanese term for picture books. It may be applied in the general sense, or may refer specifically to a type of woodblock printed illustrated volume published in the Edo period (1603–1867). The first were religious items with images ...

in 1834 and 1835. Nishimuraya Yohachi also published prints by

Eishi was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist. His last name was Hosoda (細田). His first name was Tokitomi (時富). His common name was Taminosuke (民之丞) and later Yasaburo (弥三郎). Pupil of Kano Eisen'in Michinobu (狩野栄川院典信). Born ...

Kuniyasu was a Japanese artist best known for his prints in the ukiyo-e style as a member of the Utagawa school. Life and career Few details are known of Kuniyasu's life. He was born in 1794 and had the given name Yasugorō. His teacher was the Utaga ...

, Toyokuni I and

Kunisada Utagawa Kunisada ( ja, 歌川国貞; 1786 – 12 January 1865), also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III (, ), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist. He is considered the most popular, prolific and commercially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodbloc ...

. Nishimuraya is immortalized in the 1787 print '' Eijudō Hibino at Seventy-one'' by

Utagawa Toyokuni I Utagawa Toyokuni ( ja, 歌川豊国; 1769 in Edo – 24 February 1825 in Edo), also often referred to as Toyokuni I, to distinguish him from the Utagawa school, members of his school who took over his ''gō'' (art-name) after he died, w ...

He is known to have been a member of the Fuji-kō, an Edo period cult centred around

Mount Fuji , or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest p ...

. Founded by an ascetic named

Hasegawa Kakugyō Hasegawa (written: 長谷川 literally "long valley river") is a Japanese surname. Hasegawa may refer to: People A * Akiko Hasegawa, Japanese voice actress and singer * Ariajasuru Hasegawa (born 1988), Japanese-Iranian footballer B * B ...

(1541–1646), the cult venerated the mountain as a female deity, and encouraged its members to climb it. In doing so they would be reborn, "purified and... able to find happiness." The cult waned in the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

and although it persists to this day it has been subsumed into

Shintō Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoist ...

sects.Melton 2008, 231 The publisher's association with the Fuji-kō gives clues not only to imagery in his portrait by Utagawa, but also to his eagerness to participate in the production of Hokusai's various works celebrating Mount Fuji.

References

Sources

* {{cite book, title=Japanese Prints: 300 Years of Albums and Books, last1=Hillier, first1=Jack, last2=Smith, first2=Lawrence, publisher=British Museum Press, year=1980, isbn=978-0714114187 * Machotka, Ewa. ''Visual Genesis of Japanese National Identity: Hokusai's Hyakunin Isshu''. Brussels: Peter Lang, 2009. * Marks, Andreas. ''Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900.'' Tokyo: Tuttle, 2010. * Melton, J. Gordon. ''Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena.'' Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press, 2008 * Newland, Amy Reigle. Ed. ''Hotei Encyclopedia of Woodblock Prints'', vol. 2., 2003. * Volker, T. ''Ukiyoe Quartet: publisher, designer, engraver and printer.'' Mededelingen van het Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Issue 5, Volume 129. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1949. * Japanese Prints
Nishimuraya Yohachi.
Cowell-Thackray Collection of Japanese woodblock prints and works on paper. Accessed October 27, 2013. * Honolulu Museum of Art
Portrait of Publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi I on His Seventy-first Birthday.
Accessed October 28, 2013.

References

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See also