Ibasen was founded by Iba-ya Kanzaemon, a merchant from Hamamatsu who moved to Edo alongside Tokugawa Ieyasu. At the time of its founding, the company was based in Nihonbashi, Edo, where it served as a supplier to the shogunate, dealing primarily in washi paper, paper products, and bamboo goods.
In the late Edo period, the company began producing round fan and became the publisher for popular artists such as the first-generation Utagawa Toyokuni, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, and Utagawa Hiroshige. It gained widespread popularity by printing ukiyo-e designs on round fan and selling them.