Do you need to know whether your woodblock print is by the artist Tsuchiya Koitsu? Would you like to know how to read the artist, carver, printer, and publisher seals on your Koitsu print? In this article we list all of the known artist, carver, printer, and publisher seals that have appeared on his prints. If you cannot find your seal listed here, please email me a close-up image of the seal and I will do my best to determine its reading.

Next came the "Doi Hangaten Inline" seals of K21 to K25, consisting of a "Doi Hangaten" publish seal, printer seal, and carver seal that were aligned in a vertical column. Debate still continues as to the period of use of these inline seals. It is thought that these seals were used during the period 1946 to 1955 (see the article The Doi Publishing House Seals by our friends at Ukiyoe Gallery), however, the sheer lack of prints containing these seals may suggest that in fact they were used far more earlier -- perhaps in the late 1930s or early 40s where war concerns adversely affected business.

In the mid-50s to early 60s Doi returned to the original offset printer/carver style shown in K31 to K34 below. There are a large quantity of prints carrying this seal and it suggests that the Doi publishing house was prospering during this post-war time. Note: There is a misconception that prints carrying these seals are pre-war. This is probably not correct. Although the exact period of use of these seals has not yet been confirmed, it is commonly thought that this style of seal combination was only used post-war. Do not confuse a "Doi Hangaten Offset" seal with that of the pre-war "Sadaichi Offset" seals. Having said that, some may argue that seal K31 was possibly used pre-war, because the seals of this printer (Gotou) appear on prints almost exclusively with that of the publisher Doi Sadaichi.

From the mid 60s to the early 80s the Doi publishing house used the single large "Hamamatsu-Do" seal shown as K51 below. This seal contained all three publisher, printer and carver inkans within a larger seal. Then from the early 80s until the present Doi used the "Eiichi Offset" seals of K61 to K65. Doi Eiichi is the son of Doi Sadaichi.