A studio or place of work for artists and craftsmen. Also refers to artists or craftsmen who group together to produce work based on a similar purpose or approach. Essentially the same meaning as 'atelier'. In ancient Japan, there were kōbō for imperial court painters, kyūtei-eshi 宮廷絵師, painters in the employ of the shogun *goyō-eshi 御用絵師, official painting bureau of temples and shrines, jiin-no-edokoro 寺院の絵所, and studios for making Buddhist statues *bussho 仏所. By the late Muromachi period, guild za 座 organizations had developed among fan makers ōgiya 扇屋 in Kyoto and Buddhist painters *ebusshi 絵仏師 in Nara, but they were dissolved during the Momoyama and early Edo periods and replaced by private studios or *eya 絵屋. Examples of productions of eya in the early Edo period are works produced by Sōtatsu's 宗達 studio, Sōtatsu kōbō which used the *Tawaraya 俵屋 seal or the *Inen 伊年 seal, and paintings by the Iwasa Matabē 岩佐又兵衛 kōbō. In the 18th century many works were produced by Kaigetsudō Ando 懐月堂安度 and his disciples of the Kaigetsudō kōbō.