Hanes

[The 54th Excursion Series] Visit Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture, a place related to the founder of Mitsukoshi (Echigo-ya).


Hello. I'm Hanes, an active correspondent.
There are only a few left this year, but there are Christmas and New Year's Day during the year-end and New Year holidays, and it is a time when the dining table is a little more luxurious than usual.
Some of you may have used Mitsukoshi, which has two stores in Chuo-ku.
Mitsukoshi, did you know that there is actually a place related to Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture?

In the city I visited for the first time the other day, I found a lion statue familiar in Chuo-ku.

[The 54th Excursion Series] Visit Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture, a place related to the founder of Mitsukoshi (Echigo-ya).


There was an information board entitled "The origin of the distant statue" near the lion statue, which sits so tightly that the illusion, "Is this the entrance of Mitsukoshi?" It's written like this.

"This lion statue was donated to Matsusaka City by Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. on September 28, 2015. The founder of the Mitsui family, Takatoshi Mitsui (1622-1694), was born in Matsusaka and became a big merchant known throughout the country."

[The 54th Excursion Series] Visit Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture, a place related to the founder of Mitsukoshi (Echigo-ya).


As described in the official text of the Chuo-ku Tourism Certification "Chuo-ku Monoshiri Encyclopedia", the beginning of the Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi Main Store was the opening of a kimono dealer Echigo-ya in Nihonbashi during the Edo period.
The birthplace of Takatoshi Mitsui, who opened Echigo-ya, the predecessor of Mitsukoshi, which is now familiar to many people in Japan and overseas, is now designated as a historic site in Matsusaka City as the birthplace of the Mitsui family.

[The 54th Excursion Series] Visit Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture, a place related to the founder of Mitsukoshi (Echigo-ya).


It is a historic site that is usually closed to the public, but this time it was accidentally opened to the public, so I visited Takatoshi's grandparents and parents Five-ringed pagoda, a well known as Takatoshi's "Sanyu no I", and a monument written by Takatoshi's grandson Takamine Mitsui.

[The 54th Excursion Series] Visit Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture, a place related to the founder of Mitsukoshi (Echigo-ya).


An article in March this year "Yorimichi Market" is being held at Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi Main Store! As mentioned in the first installment, there are a variety of items that enhance the bicycle life ~ ", 2023 is the 350th anniversary of the establishment of Mitsukoshi (Echigoya), so the "Mitsui Family Birthplace" was released for a limited time, It seems that the city was widely publicized the land related to the Mitsui family.
[Reference Articles] The 350th anniversary of the founding of Echigo-ya, the birthplace of the Mitsui family, was released for a limited time.…Mie-Matsusaka City (October 4, 2023)

[The 54th Excursion Series] Visit Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture, a place related to the founder of Mitsukoshi (Echigo-ya).


Visiting Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture, a place related to the founder of Mitsukoshi (Echigoya), and visiting the birthplace of the Mitsui family and Matsusaka merchant-related historical sites, we were able to dig deeper into the history of Chuo-ku from different angles and understand. Was.
Next year, I would like to introduce my relationship with Chuo-ku throughout Japan through the excursion series.