Ibasen's 430-year history


伊場仙について


Tensho 18 (1590)

Tokugawa Ieyasu is given the eight provinces of Kanto by Hideyoshi and moves from Mikawa Okazaki to Edo. He started to build the town of Edo. During the construction of Edo Castle Town, the upstream river was filled in and opened to waterways.


The father of Ibaya Kanzaemon, the first generation of Ibasen, was a flood control and civil engineering craftsman for the Matsudaira family in Okazaki, Mikawa Province. He went with Ieyasu Tokugawa to Iba-mura in Enshu (present-day Iba-machi, Hamamatsu City) and became the firstIbaya Kanzaemonwas born. Since the exact year of establishment is unknown, the year of the founder's birth is used as the year of establishment.

Iba Village, Enshu

Higashi-Iba-cho, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture

Edo shogunate founded in 1603

Tokugawa Ieyasu is appointed Seiyo-tai shogun and establishes the Edo shogunate.

Ibaya Kanzaemonmoved to Edo with Ieyasu's entry into the Edo shogunate and engaged in pioneering work. The land he cleared was given to him as a gift, so he settles in this area and begins his business. The name of the store was taken from the village of Iba, with which he was associated.

At the time of its establishment, the shop dealt in Japanese paper and bamboo, and as an official merchant, it delivered materials and Japanese paper to the shogunate, which was also used for baskets and wicker baskets.
The washi was not made but purchased from paper-making regions such as Tosa and Awa, and the bamboo was from Boshu.

Meireki 3 (1657)

The Great Meireki Fire (Furisode Fire) damaged most of Edo and destroyed the Edo Castle keep. It was the most devastating fire in the Edo period and had a major impact on the city planning and firefighting systems of Edo. Old documents and other items were destroyed by the fire.

Around the 13th year of Genroku (around 1700) Mid-Edo period

In an effort to add value, they began producing fans made of bamboo and Japanese paper. This became the product known as the Edo Uchiwa. Ibasen's production of uchiwa fans began in the mid-Edo period, around the 1700s.
As a wholesaler of fans, dealing in Edo fans and fans, Ibasen began to go to Edo Castle as a publisher of fans for the Edo Shogunate.

Around Nihonbashi in the Edo period

*In Nihonbashi Horie-cho, a riverside district surrounded by iribori, or the two banks of the Horitome River, was created, and each was given a name that indicated its characteristics. The names of the riverside streets in Nihonbashi-Horie-cho were "Dangan-kawagishi" and "Yone-kawagishi" and "Datsuo-kawagishi" in Kobunacho. (From "Nihonbashi Shigyo-ki")

Nihonbashi Horie-cho, Edo is now called Kobunacho

Kansei 4 (1792)

Senzaburo IbayaOpened a wholesale store for fans in Horie-cho 1-chome.

Late Edo period

Ukiyoe pasting of ukiyoe on fans became popular.
Ukiyoe on fans begins to be handled in earnest. At the time, popular Ukiyo-e artistToyokuni Utagawa Iand other genius painters.Kuniyoshiand his contemporariesHiroshigeand others, and spread the name "Ibaya" throughout Edo.

From around the first year of Bunka era (1804~1818) to the end of the Edo period

Kyubei IbayaShop name "Ibayakyu", "Kinseido", Horie-cho 2-chome Many works of fan paintings can be seen.

From Bunsei (1818~1830) to Meiji era (1868~1912)

Senzaburo IbayaShop name "Ibasen", "Danzen-do", "Danzen-do", Horie-cho 1-chome, five-man store, wholesaler of fans
Name taken from Saburo 10th generationIbasenIbasen.

Ansei 2 (1855)

Ansei Earthquake.

Meiji Restoration (1868~1889)

The company is affected by the loss of its "shogunate warrant" business, but continues to work as a publisher of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and to sell calendars.
Naokichi Yoshida XIII: Pushes forward the calendar business as a semi-mainstay product.

1923 (Taisho 12)

The store is destroyed by fire in the Great Kanto Earthquake.

1934 (the 9th year of the Showa era)

Corporation Ibasen Reorganized as a joint-stock company.

1945 (Showa 20)

World War II: The store was spared from damage in the Tokyo Air Raid.

1976 (Showa 51)

Nobuo Yoshida (Nobuo Yoshida), the 14th generation, joins the family business.

1985 (Showa 60)

Nobuo Yoshida became the 14th representative director. The calendar business was discontinued. He concentrated on his main business of selling fans and folding fans.

2008 (Heisei 20)

Website launched.

2012 (Heisei 24)

Ibasen Ukiyoe Museum opened on the first floor of the building by Chuo City's Machikado Exhibition Hall project on the first floor.

Currently

Began selling fans in the late Edo period, and has continued to the present as a long-established shop for fans, folding fans, and Japanese paper products.

The "Ibasen version" paintings from those days can now be seen not only in museums in Japan but also in famous museums abroad such as the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Van Gogh Museum.

Ibasen's Business Philosophy

Ibasen is committed to the preservation of traditional Japanese culture, especially Edo culture, and incorporates Edo designs and colors into the design of its products. Our materials are carefully selected domestic bamboo, Japanese paper, and fibers, and these are then commercialized by the hands of skilled craftsmen.


In addition, through 430 years of business, we value the bonds between people, and we are committed to being a company that is useful to the community and society, putting the trust of our customers first.

Ukiyo-e Printing Company

Work of the publisher

A publisher is what we would now call a publishing producer.


Ukiyo-e is engraved on woodblocks and then printed, so I asked artists such as Kuniyoshi and Hiroshige to design and print ukiyo-e, and as they were able to print ukiyo-e, I became a publisher of ukiyo-e as well, although my main business is a fan shop.


Therefore, I will introduce some Ukiyo-e prints. There you can catch a glimpse of the relationship between the publishers and Ukiyo-e artists of the time, and the rebellious spirit of Edo.

"Specters by Tsuchigumo, Minamoto no Yorimitsu Koshokan" (The Spider by Minamoto no Yorimitsu Koshokan)

(Minamoto Mitsuko Yorimitsu Koukan Tsuchigumo Saku Yokai no Zu)

1843, large-format nishiki-e (brocade), 3 prints in sequence


Minamoto no Yorimitsu, who is said to have vanquished the drinking spiders on Mount Oe, is being bewildered by the monsters of the ground spiders.

Although there are other paintings of the extermination of demons on Mt. The pattern of Yorimitsu's wobbly kimono is a sheath-shaped pattern, which means that the 12th shogun, Tokugawa Iekei, is the Yorimitsu.

The common people of Edo, who had grown weary of Mizuno's prohibition policy, began to buy these ukiyo-e prints in droves.

The publisher was Ibasen. Ibasen was not to be blamed for the enthusiasm of the people, as he quickly retrieved the prints and shaved off the woodblocks. Well, well, well...

Both Ibasen, the publisher, and the Utagawa school, to which Kuniyoshi belonged, had been serving the Edo shogunate, so to speak. They were not deprived of their rights and continued to publish caricatures with a rebellious spirit and a willingness to criticize the shogunate, both before and after the Edo shogunate.



"A waste of writing on the wall of the Hago Hozang

(The Wasted Calligraphy on the Cargo Storehouse Wall)

Circa 1847 (Koka 4)



Since the Tempo Reforms, there had been an injunction against the publication of yakusha ukiyoe. In an attempt to get them published, artists and publishers devised new ways of publishing them.

The artists and publishers tried to get their works published, but the people said, "This is not Ukiyo-e, it is a graffiti. It is a graffiti.

People at that time could see Utaemon, Koshiro, and Umeko. The cat in the middle is a two-tailed cat. They are dancing happily.

Such a playful spirit is what makes us feel luxurious.

These are called nugie (nail paintings), and they are paintings that Kuniyoshi wrote in the form of graffiti scratched with a nail.
There are also other portraits of actors, such as "Shiro-menjyo-rokka-no-mudagaki" (White face laughing wall).

Other characters such as "Minna waratte iru yawada" and "Naru aika harauzu," signatures such as "Kuniyoshi egaku," and the seal of the publisher Ibasen were also written in the same style of nail paintings. This is a painful style that can be seen in today's manga as well.

The Role of Ibasen

Such is the humorous, chic, and also rebellious spirit of the Edo people.
We are determined to pass on the good old days to the present generation.


We believe that it is our important role as a long-established business to always be aware of the cultural transmission of Edo and to preserve and pass on the traditions.