Hanreki-shosha (organization to distribute the calendar) (頒暦商社)
Hanreki-shosha was an exclusive organization to distribute the calendar in the early Meiji period.
In 1872 the Meiji government gathered the calendar distributors in the Edo period to form the exclusive organization under the leadership of the Ministry of Education. On December 9, 1872, an imperial edict was issued to change the prevailing lunar calendar to the solar calendar, and the organization was significantly damaged by that, though later it was given a monopoly to publish the official calendar for ten years, starting in 1873.
The Hanreki-shosha was reorganized into 'Hayashi-gumi' in 1883 when the monopoly was ended and the copy right of the calendar was transferred to the Jingu Shicho (Ise-jingu Shrine) at the same time. Still it published and distributed the official calendar on consignment from the Jingu Shicho in 1883 and 1884, but from 1885 it published and distributed its own independent calendar.