Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store

A Building That Tells the Story of Japanese Department Stores

The Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store (三越日本橋本店, Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi Honten) is a steel-framed reinforced concrete department store completed in 1927 in Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo City, Tokyo, which in 2016 was designated an Important Cultural Property.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records seven floors above ground and one below, with six rooftop towers and a building area of 8,490.88 square metres. It belongs to Isetan Mitsukoshi and was designated for excellent design and high historical value.

Chuo City notes that the architectural drawings, extension plans and structural drawings by the Yokogawa design office are designated with the building.

From Echigoya to Department Store

Chuo City traces Mitsukoshi to Echigoya, a kimono shop opened in Nihonbashi in the Edo period; the name Mitsukoshi takes one character each from the Mitsui family and Echigoya.

Renamed Mitsukoshi Gofukuten in 1904, the company announced in newspaper advertisements that it would become a department store. In 1914 a five-storey reinforced concrete building in Renaissance style was completed, equipped with the latest facilities including Japan's first escalator.

According to the Agency, the present building reused the steel frame of the Taisho-era store damaged in the Great Kanto Earthquake and was completed in 1927 as a seven-storey steel and concrete structure. Chuo City notes that it incorporated the frame and floors of the 1914 building and its 1921 extension. A southern extension in 1935 added the five-storey central atrium and the special dining hall, and further extensions in 1956 and 1964 brought it to fill a whole city block.

Why It Matters

The Agency notes that one design office, Yokogawa, designed it throughout, so the exterior is consistently in a slightly simplified Western classical style. Inside, the Mitsukoshi Hall theatre is richly coloured, and the central atrium and special dining hall are in Art Deco style.

The Agency values the Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store as a symbol of the development of department store architecture in Japan, extended and remodelled time and again to draw customers in each era.

What to Look For

Chuo City describes a three-part facade: granite on the ground floor, white tile on floors two to five with thick pilasters and ornamented capitals, and an entablature with cornice below the sixth floor, topped by a row of antefixes.

At the north end of the east front, bronze lions greet visitors beside ornate carving and lamps. At the top of the tall rooftop tower is Art Deco ornament bearing the store's Echigoya crest.

Inside, the five-storey central atrium and the Mitsukoshi Hall show the pioneering design of their periods.

Visiting the Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store

The Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store is still a working department store and can be entered during opening hours. Check the store's official website for hours and closing days.

Questions about the cultural property can be sent to the Chuo City local history museum, 03-3551-2167.