Yamaguchiya Tōbei (山口屋藤兵衛) (publisher ca 1805 – 1895)

Alternate names: Kinkōdō (firm name - 錦耕堂)
Arakawa Tōbei (family name - 荒川藤兵衛)

Links

Biography:

Edo/Tokyo publisher (Marks 591). This house published the works of Chikuyō, Eisen, Eizan, Gengyo, Hiroshige, Hiroshige II, Hokusai, Isai, Kuniaki I, Kuniaki II, Kunichika, Kunihisa II, Kunimaru, Kunimasa III, as Kunisada and as Toyokuni III, Kunisada II, Kuniteru, Kunitomi, Kunitoshi, Kuniyasu, Kuniyoshi, Sadahide, Sadakage, Sadatora, Shun'ei, Shungyō, Shuntei, Torinyō, Toshinobu, Toyokuni I, Toyokuni II, Tsukimaro, Utamaro, Utamaro II, Yoshifuji, Yoshiharu, Yoshiharu II, Yoshiiku, Yoshimasa, Yoshitora, Yoshitoro-jo and Yoshitoshi.

[Artists in the Lyon Collection published by this house are highlighted in bold type.]

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For whatever reason, very few carver's seals show up on this publishers products. However, that of Hori Sashichi did leave his seal on a Toyokuni III triptych in 1851; Hori Kane on Kuniyoshi prints in 1855; Hori Take in 1852 and 1859.

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"Yamaguchiya Tōbei was one of the publishers, if not the publisher, with the biggest output in the history of Japanese woodblock printing." Like other early, prominent houses Yamaguchi-ya was a member of the Picture Book and Print Publishers Guild (Jihon toiya) in 1807 and like others the head of the firm served, too, as a censor, but in 1812 and 1813.

"Initially he commissioned Utamaro to design beauty prints and soon worked with Utamaro's student Tsukimaro as well as Hokusai. In the 1810s he predominantly issued actor prints by Toyokuni. But he also started issuing illustrated books by various artists, a field he [sic] was active in until the 1880s."

Source and quote from: Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900 by Andreas Marks, p. 248.