In Actor Ichikawa Ebijūrō as Samurai, how is the Publisher discussed?
The print displays two publisher seals. On the right is the mark of Kinkadō (金華堂) or Tenmaya Kihei (天満屋喜兵衛), commonly known as Tenki (天喜/天キ). The firm operated in Osaka from 1816 into the 1850s, and published works by Gigadō Ashiyuki, Konishi Hirosada, Shunbaisai Hokuei, Sadamasu and Ryusai Shigeharu among others. Tenki used various hanmoto (版元) publisher seals. This version features the kanji character 天 (ten) followed by the katakana character キ (ki) within a rectangle.
On the left, is one of at least three variants of the hanmoto used by Yamaichi (山市), which, between 1822 and 1824, produced images by artists such as Ashiyuki Gigadō, Hokushū, Kunihiro and Shibakuni. The seal on this print is the kanji character 市 (ichi) under a stylized double mountain (pron. yama).
Sadamasu kanji Shunbaisai Hokuei Gigadō Ashiyuki Osaka katakana Ryusai Shigeharu Konishi Hirosada