Yuhikaku

What Yuhikaku does

Yuhikaku Publishing Co., Ltd. (有斐閣) is a privately held Japanese legal and academic publishing company founded in 1877 and headquartered in Tokyo, with an additional branch office in Kyoto. The company publishes legal textbooks, reference works (notably the 六法全書 "Six Codes" compendium and its portable ポケット六法 edition), scholarly case-law collections (判例百選), and a stable of recurring law journals and magazines including ジュリスト (published since 1946), 法学教室, 書斎の窓, and 民商法雑誌, alongside dictionaries and academic series in economics, political science, and management. Its customers are primarily Japanese law students, law-school faculty, academic researchers, practicing lawyers and judges, and university libraries, with the textbook and reference catalogue forming the core revenue base.

Underlying the print catalogue, Yuhikaku operates a digital publishing platform consisting of the YODB (有斐閣オンライン・データベース) legal database distributed through third-party providers such as Lexus/Current, the subscription web service 有斐閣Online (offering Premium and Standard course tiers with back-issue access), and electronic versions of major print titles. The technology stack is conventional: a Shopify-based direct storefront (yuhikaku.myshopify.com), a content-website CMS at yuhikaku.co.jp, and partnerships with roughly nine major Japanese online retailers (Amazon Japan, 楽天ブックス, ヨドバシ.com, セブンnet, 紀伊國屋書店ウェブストア, Honya Club.com, e-hon, くまざわ書店, 丸善ジュンク堂書店) for physical and digital distribution, all confined to the Japanese domestic market.

The business model combines one-time/perpetual-license revenue from physical and electronic book sales (typical list prices ranging from roughly ¥2,000 to ¥9,000+) with subscription-recurring revenue from magazines and digital services. Go-to-market is multi-channel: direct e-commerce, third-party retail distribution, and enterprise/institutional database subscriptions, supported by an unusually extensive social-media presence spanning eight-plus official X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, YouTube, and note.com accounts organized by editorial division. There are no disclosed funding rounds, M&A activity, or leadership changes in the available data, and the company operates as an independent, founder- or family-owned private limited entity with no parent company and no public listing.

Name

Yuhikaku

Legal name

YUHIKAKU PUBLISHING CO.,LTD.

Website

https://yuhikaku.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

1877

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Yuhikaku is a privately held Japanese legal and academic publishing house, founded in 1877, that produces law textbooks, the 六法全書 reference compendium, case-law collections, and recurring legal journals for law students, scholars, lawyers, and university libraries across Japan.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (51313), Periodical Publishers (513120), Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Educational & Academic Publishing Distribution (Textbooks) (CRAOALAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

E-books, Digital Content & Licensing Distribution (CRAOALAE)

Keywords

• Legal publishing
• Academic books
• Law journals
• Legal reference works
• Digital publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Physical Book Sales: Sales of printed legal textbooks, academic books, and reference materials through online retailers, physical bookstores, and direct website sales.
2. Magazine Subscriptions: Subscription revenue from law journals and magazines including ジュリスト, 法学教室, 書斎の窓, and 民商法雑誌.
3. Digital Content Services: Online database access (YODB), subscription service (有斐閣Online), and electronic versions of publications.
4. DVD Products: DVD-based legal reference products including 六法全書電子復刻版, 注釈民法, 法律学全集, 民商法雑誌, and law journal archives.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Yuhikaku is a Japanese publishing company specializing in legal, political, economic, and academic books, magazines, and dictionaries. The company sells physical and digital editions of authoritative legal textbooks, the 六法全書 (Six Codes) reference series, law journals such as ジュリスト and 法学教室, case law collections, and dictionaries. It also operates subscription-based digital services including YODB (legal database) and 有斐閣Online (premium/standard course subscriptions).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 有斐閣ONLINE: Subscription-based web service offering premium and standard courses for accessing legal publications and content.
• YODB (有斐閣オンライン・データベース)
• ジュリスト
• 法学教室
• 判例百選
• 六法全書
• ポケット六法
• 民商法雑誌

Products and services

• 六法全書 (Roppo Zensho / Six Codes Complete)
• ポケット六法 (Pocket Roppo / Pocket Six Codes)
• ジュリスト (Jurist)
• 法学教室 (Hogaku Kyoshitsu / Law School Classroom)
• 書斎の窓 (Shosai no Mado)
• 民商法雑誌 (Minsho-ho Zasshi / Civil and Commercial Law Journal)
• 判例百選 (Hanrei Hyakusen / Selected Case Law)
• 有斐閣Online (Yuhikaku Online)
• YODB (有斐閣オンライン・データベース)

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Iwanami Shoten (岩波書店): Premier Japanese academic and intellectual publisher across humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Comparable to Yuhikaku as a co-equal Japanese scholarly press, but with a much broader category footprint beyond legal specialization.

Direct peers

• Shoji Homu (商事法務): Japanese publisher focused on commercial law, corporate governance, and securities regulation content. Directly comparable to Yuhikaku's 民商法雑誌 and corporate-law textbook franchises in addressing practicing lawyers and corporate legal departments.
• Dai-ichi Hoki (第一法規): Japanese legal and regulatory publisher producing reference works including law codes and law journals, directly competing with Yuhikaku in the Japanese legal publishing market. Both companies target legal practitioners and government compliance professionals with statutory and regulatory content.
• Hogaku Shoin (法学書院): Specialist Japanese law textbook and journal publisher, including the rival magazine 法学セミナー. Directly comparable to Yuhikaku's 法学教室 in serving law-school coursework and bar exam preparation segments.
• Gyosei (ぎょうせい): Specialist publisher of Japanese government and legal reference works with a domestic focus on public administration, statutes, and legal practice. Shares Yuhikaku's institutional legal-content thesis and target buyer profile.
• Shin-Nippon Hoki (新日本法規): Long-established Japanese legal publisher issuing law codes, commentaries, and practitioner reference works. Competes head-to-head with Yuhikaku in 六法全書 category and legal practice reference materials.
• Yoshikawa Kobunkan (吉川弘文館): Long-established Japanese scholarly publisher specializing in history, Japanese studies, and humanities with adjacent academic content. Comparable to Yuhikaku as a Japanese academic/intellectual press with overlapping institutional library customers and editorial tradition.

Emerging players

• LexisNexis Japan: International legal research database provider with Japanese-language legal content and case law. Competes with Yuhikaku's YODB digital database offering by aggregating Japanese statutes, case law, and commentary on a global platform.
• Chuo Keizaisha (中央経済社): Japanese publisher focused on business, management, accounting, and economics—directly overlapping with Yuhikaku's economics and management catalog. Smaller and more specialized than Yuhikaku in the academic business press category.
• Wolters Kluwer Japan (Westlaw Japan): Global legal information provider operating Westlaw Japan, an integrated legal research platform for the Japanese market. Directly comparable to Yuhikaku's YODB in serving legal professionals with digital subscription-based research tools.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/YUHIKAKU_eigyo
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCP0Ulp516snbh_4hDf3kXAA
• Facebookfacebook.com/yuhikakulawbook
• Instagraminstagram.com/p/CM4LjKuJ-ol

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Yuhikaku