Tsutaya Jūzaburō

Who was Tsutaya Jūzaburō?

Tsutaya Jūzaburō was the founder and head of the Tsutaya publishing house in Edo period Japan, which produced the ukiyo-e woodblock print works of many of the period's most famous artists, along with illustrated books. He has been called "the greatest of the print publishers", and is easily the most famous publisher of the period.

"Tsuta-ya" is not truly a surname, as commoners generally lacked surnames in Japan prior to the 1868 Meiji Restoration. Rather, it is a yagō, or "shop name", literally meaning "Ivy Shop". Jūzaburō and his successors used a seal of ivy leaves under a stylized Mt. Fuji as their publisher's mark. He is sometimes also referred to as "Tsuta-Jū".