Tanaka Ryozo

Ryōzō Tanaka (田中良三, January 16, 1874 - July 1, 1946) was a Japanese printer, publisher, illustrator, and bookseller active in Japan during the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. He was an important figure in the development of printing in 20th century Japan, including as part of the Shin-Hanga (新版画, 'new woodblock print') school, which revived traditional ukiyo-e techniques in the face of chromolithographic printing, which had become very popular in the late Meiji period. Tanaka was born in Kyoto, the second son of Haishi Hashimoto. He apprenticed under an Osaka bookseller Tanaka Jubei (田中重兵衛), marrying that individual's fourth daughter and taking the Tanaka name. Sometime in the 1890s, he relocated to Tokyo to open a branch office of the Tanaka Jubei firm. He soon thereafter (1897) opened his own business, the Tokyo Shobido Gakyou (東京尚美堂画局) book cart, in Kyobashi, Tokyo. It is said he started his book business with just 30 yen and 600 traditional ukiyo-e prints. By 1898, he acquired a physical location in the Kanda book district of Tokyo and began printing on his own account, pioneering Japanese chromolithography. Tanaka issued a series of serio-comic style maps in Japanese and English illustrating the events of World War I (1914 - 1818). In 1930, Tanaka shifted gears, becoming an adherent of the Shin-Hanga School and publishing some of its leading figures, including Hasui Kawase, Hiroaki Takahashi, and Mitsuitsu Tsuchiya. But he also continued to print and publish lithographic works, including a large number relating to Japan's military operations in China in the 1930s, the life of Japanese residents in China, and related matters. Most of Tanaka's original printing plates were destroyed in the March 1945 firebombing of Tokyo. After the war, Takaka's business was taken over by his eldest son, Tanaka Teizō (田中貞三), who attained some success.