Was Ito Sozan Dumped by Watanabe?
There is no information why the designs by Ito Sozan for Watanabe stopped in 1926. But a fact is that Koson (Shoson) Ohara began to work for Watanabe in the very same year when the works by Ito Shozan for Watanabe faded out. It is also no secret that Watanabe Shozaburo managed his print publishing company in a rather rigid manner. He had precise ideas what a woodblock print should look like in order to sell well outside Japan (North America, Europe). During the 1920s and early 1930s most shin hanga prints published by Watanabe were exported. It sounds plausible that Watanabe replaced Ito Sozan by Ohara Koson. But we do not know the reasons. They may have been personal or maybe Watanabe thought that Koson could do a better job. There is no information available and the art world will probably never find out.
