Sawamuraya Seikichi (沢村屋清吉) (publisher ca 1855 – 1903)

Alternate names: Takekawa Seikichi (武川清吉) - family name

Links

Biography:

Edo/Tokyo publisher listed in Marks as #459. The family name was Takekawa Seikichi (武川清吉). They used this name in their seals from 1876 on. They published works by Gekkō, Kaisei, Kiyochika, Kōitsu, Kyōsai, Kiyooki, Kuniyoshi, Nobukazu, Yoshimori, Yoshitora, Ginkō, Gyokuei, Kunichika, Kunisada II, Norichika, Shigekiyo, Hiroshige III, Hayakawa Shōzan, Toyonobu, Chikanobu and Beisaku.

[One artist in the Lyon Collection was published by this house. His name is highlighted in bold type.]

****

"At least from 1855, Sawamuraua Seikichi issued books with illustrations by print artists. However, it was not until the mid-1860s that Sawamuraya started to put prints on the market. At first it was actor prints by Kunichika, the leading artist of actor prints at that time. Then Sawamuraya joined Maruya Tetsujirō in publishing Yoshitora's warrior series "Sixty-odd Generals of Japan" (Dainippon rokujūyoshō)."

This is from Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900 (p. 306) by Andreas Marks.

Ko (こ) and So (そ) from the series <i>Japanese Brocades from the Genroku Era</i> (<i>Genroku Yamato Nishiki</i> - 元禄日本錦) - Sugino Jūheiji Tsugifusa (杉野十平二次房) and Hayami Tozaemon Mitsutaka (早水籐左衛門満尭) - 2 figures from the <i>Chūshingura</i>