Suwaraya Mohei

• Other Names: 華誘斎 (Kayuusai)
• Japanese: 須原屋茂兵衛 (Suwaraya Mohei)

Suwaraya Mohei was an Edo-based publisher whose operations flourished from the 1650s through the end of the Edo period, into the Meiji period. Identified by the shop name Kayûsai, Suwaraya published numerous works, with those by Edo literati at the core.

The business grew considerably under the 4th Suwaraya Mohei in the Hôreki era (1750s-60s), and expanded even further under the 6th Suwaraya Mohei in the late Kansei era (late 1790s). The latter made efforts to resist pressure to open a branch in Kamigata, but ultimately gave in and opened one in Kyoto.

His staffer or apprentice Suwaraya Ichibei split off from Mohei and established his own publishing operation, publishing the 1785 Sangoku tsûran zusetsu and the 1790 Ryûkyû banashi, among many other works.

References

• Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 198.