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Naniwanomiya Discovery Map

The area where "Nanoniwa" is located is the site of the former capital, which was also the scene of the Taika Reformation, and is in the Naniwa Palace Site Park, with Osaka Castle in front of it, Even today, it is a town where writers, craftsmen, and artists who transmit culture, food, and art to Japan and the world gather. Rediscover the charm of the Naniwanomiya area through the stories of these wonderful "townspeople" who are based in this area. ...... See more

Passing down Osaka's proud printing craftsmanship
and paper culture.

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ASAHISEIHAN Co., Ltd.

RepresentativeMariko Tsukiyama

The third generation of a “printing company without a factory” with an office in Houenzaka, where Naniwanomiya Palace is located, has been pioneering fine art printing since its establishment in 1927, which was passed down from his grandfather to his father, and together with neighboring partner factories, is now producing beautiful art books that are as good as crafts, which attract creators in Japan and abroad.
  • Photo : Yoshiko Watanabe
  • Text : Erika Murata
  • Edit : Midori Nagase
Examples of the collections they has produced to date. The tin-foil exterior of the book “Ryutan Tan” and the New York ADC Award-winning “Pure Form: The Age of Dieter Rams” exhibition catalogue are examples of his work.
The Uemachi Plateau is famous for “printing”.
Craftsmen still work in the division of labor.

Many people, even citizens of Osaka, may not know that the Uemachi Plateau is a “paper culture zone. The plateau, which runs north to south across the Osaka Plain, is well ventilated, well drained, and humidity is low. Perhaps taking advantage of such geographical features, the area has been crowded with factories in the “printing” and “paper” industries since the prewar period, and they are still in operation today.
The area is close to Osaka Castle and has many shrines and temples. Perhaps it is because of the environment that nurtured cultural things, but there are so many small factories related to printing in this area. It has always been a style of division of labor. The printing process alone is divided into many different processes, from small machines for printing business cards to rotary presses, plate making, cutting, folding, binding, foil stamping, and so on, and each product is born after going through many factories. Each factory is a group of professionals, all of whom are craftsmen with excellent skills.
At the time of its founding, Asahi Seihan was a letterpress printing factory that owned the largest number of European typefaces in Osaka. The company’s main products were trade slips, clothing tags, and other commercial printed matter. On the other hand, the company also focused on art printing in collaboration with designers and painters of the time. Keishiro, Mariko’s father and the second generation, took the fine art printing business fostered by the first generation to a higher level. To achieve this, he made the decision to become a “printing company without a factory (printing press). There are factories with superior technology in the neighborhood. Then, he decided to work in a directional role and work together with them to create better products. In other words, there were skilled people in this town that even his competitors wanted to rely on. And, of course, they still are. This attitude of creating something together with Osaka’s craftsmen centering on the Uemachi Plateau has been passed down to the third generation, Mariko.

Mariko has been exposed to her grandfather's and father's work since she was a child. Therefore, printing is a world she is familiar with. Although she is familiar with the world of printing, she takes on the challenge of making things from a bird's eye view and conveys the amazing skills of Osaka's craftsmen.
A one-of-a-kind art book created by tracing a local factory

Mariko’s title is Director of Printing. She sometimes works on business cards and corporate catalogs, but her real work is the collections of artwork she produces for artists, such as painters and photographers. She develops an image from the client’s request, and considers all the methods of paper selection, plate making, printing, processing, and bookbinding, and selects the appropriate factory for each method. After an order is placed, he never misses the opportunity to attend the production site. In other words, he is the architect and general supervisor of the printing process. What kind of printed materials can be produced by local craftsmen? One example is “WIND MANDARA” produced in 2018. A collection of works by photographer Yoshiyasu Suzuka, it is a compilation of photographs captured with an 8×10 pinhole camera. One of the most unique features of the book is the devices that reflect the nature of his work. For example, some pages are pierced with 3mm holes that imitate pinholes.
‘You have to drill a hole through the center of a piece of paper over several pages. How is that possible? and it starts with, “You can’t drill a hole without fixing the page first, right? And so on. Finally, we used a process called tennori (glue) to bind the pages before drilling the holes and combining them with the final thread-bound book. Every job we do is a first for us. When I visit the factory with a new job, I am told, “Another difficult problem! (wry smile).
Incidentally, this pinhole is the work of a “factory specializing in making holes. After scanning the data from analog film, the photos, which are the key to the photo book, are properly printed on a plate (converted to data) and printed in full color. The black paper is printed with gold and silver special colors. After that, there were factories specializing in foil stamping and bookbinding, and a total of 10 factories were involved in the production of this book!　It is surprising that most of them are located in Osaka. It makes me feel somewhat proud to know that such a beautiful book is produced by local craftsmen.

  • Design, cutting, plate-making, printing, processing, and binding. WIND MANDARA" is a collection of Yoshiyasu Suzuka's works created by combining the skills of Osaka craftsmen.
  • What is captured on film are the world's sacred sites that have been visited over a period of more than 30 years. All of them were photographed with a pinhole camera.
  • The "Tenkin" process is also finished by a specialized factory. Professional work shines through in every detail.
  • A-gene press" started in earnest in 2024. This is a project to bring to the world the ideas and works that I have been warming up to," says Mariko. I want to deliver them to the world from here," says Mariko.
Few books are published in tens of thousands of copies as in commercial publishing. They are all small runs, one copy minimum.
We will create books that will be cherished for a long time, with an eye on the future of paper culture.

With the 100th anniversary of its founding approaching, Asahi Seiban has begun a new endeavor called “A-gene press. A-gene” means the gene of Asahi Seiban. According to Mariko, “This is a project to bring out to the world the ideas and works that we have been warming up to. As a first attempt, an online store (https://asahiseihan.stores.jp) has been established to sell a collection of works by artists and creators that have been produced to date, introducing them from a printing perspective.
The first thing that comes to mind is that the works themselves, even if they were created 10 or 20 years ago, are wonderful, and the design and printing don’t look old at all. In fact, I think the value is created because the books are carefully produced. With the development of digital technology, the meaning of printing on paper is now questioned. Paper is a limited resource, so I believe we have to produce printed materials that will last into the future so that people will cherish and keep them,” he says.
The problem of successors to the town factories, which he has called “cooperating factories” since he was the second generation, is no stranger to the company.
Without cooperating factories and craftsmen, our work would not be possible. Craftsmen in printing factories overseas are as well-established as designers. But in Japan, they are regarded as “subcontractors,” and wages are not raised. Printing is really a very creative job. I believe that the handiwork and sensibility of Japanese craftsmen can be used overseas. So raising the value of printing is also our mission”.
Recently, “Kouin – kouin,” a collection of works by photographer Mineko Orizaku, for which he was in charge of the printing design, won a prize in the 57th Zokuhin Binding Competition. As a book representing Japan, it was entered in the “World’s Most Beautiful Book Competition” in Leipzig, Germany. Ms. Mariko continues to transmit to the world the printing techniques of local craftsmen, of which she is very proud.

Naniwanomiya & I

In her childhood, it was an after-school playground, and now it is a town square where the community gathers.

“I was born in Morinomiya and went to elementary school in Tanimachi 4-chome, so Naniwanomiya has been a familiar place to me since I was a child. When I was in elementary school, I used to come back here after school (to the Asahi Seihan plant, which at that time had a letterpress printing press). I often played there, building a base in the root of a tree. Now I not only work but also live in this neighborhood. I have also joined a neighborhood association run by my former classmates, called “Naniwa no Miya no Mieru Chokai,” and recently we have been holding events at Naniwa-no Miya that not only local residents but also nearby businesses can participate in and interact with each other. For example, “Nanapiku” (short for “picnic at Naniwanomiya”) includes events in which children can participate, as well as tea parties where residents of the town gather to enjoy casual chats. By turning the town meeting itself into an event, we hope that people will feel free to participate. We continue our activities with the hope that new residents will become interested in our town.”

ASAHISEIHAN Co., Ltd.

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