Fukuda Kumajirō (福田熊次郎) (publisher 1874 – 1898)

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Biography:

Tokyo print publisher (Marks 071). Artists published by this house include Chikanobu, Chikashige, Fusatane, Ginkō, Ikuhide, Kiyochika, Kokunimasa, Kunichika, Kunisada III, Kuniyasu, Kyōsai, Seisai, Toshimitsu, Toshinobu, Yoshiiku, Yoshimune and Yūsai Toshiaki.

[The names of artists in the Lyon Collection that were published by this house are in bold type.]

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"Fukuda Kumajirō was one of the leading publishers of the Meiji period. In 1874, he inherited the publishing firm from his father Gusokuya Kahei II which produced prints since c. 1843. Fukuda continued to use Gusokuya's publishing seals that state an address in Nihonbashi's Ningyōchō. It seems this was the address of the shop which he continued to have and that the address in Hasegawachō on some prints given parallel, relates to another branch or even his home.

The relationship between Kunichika and Gusokuya goes back to the 1860s and Fukuda expanded this relationship even further by engaging Kunichika for the majority of the prints he produced. For Kunichika, the vivid relationship with Fukuda and the continuous publication of his designs enabled him to become the leading designer of actor prints at that time."

The above is quoted from Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900 (p. 316) by Andreas Marks.