[2] Unsodo (芸艸堂), contains a combination of the kanji 芸艸 (unsō), meaning Rue, and 堂 (dō), a suffix used to indicate a building.
The use of rue in the name is due to its use in traditional Japanese bookmark production, as a way to deter pests from damaging books.
[2][3] Founded in Kyoto Japan in 1891, a major part of early production at Unsodo was that of kimono pattern books.
[2] Unsodo is the only publisher of art books bound using a traditional method named tesuri mokuhanga (手摺木版画).
[4] Unsodo have also commissioned and collaborate with 20th and 21st century artists to produce original carvings and prints, such as Shiro Kasamatsu,[5] Takeuchi Seihō[6] and Kamisaka Sekka.