The King of Mingei on Nishiginza-dori

　Walking towards Shinbashi along Nishiginza (Sotobori)-dori, you can find an old Mingei store with a sign that says “TAKUMI” as you enter the 8-chome block. I had always vaguely imagined that it had originally opened for foreign tourists around the Tokyo Olympics, just like the International Arcade that stretched under the elevated railway tracks behind Corridor Street until just recently. However, I was told that the TAKUMI was established in 1933 (Showa 8), even before World War II. The store was first opened in a two-story building located closer to Shinbashi, two or three buildings away from the corner near Dobashi Bridge, a bridge that is no longer there.

“Yanagi’s collector’s passion is said to have been ignited by Mokujiki Hotoke statues. A Mokujiki Hotoke is a simple and naïve Buddha statue carved by Mokujiki Shonin, a travelling Buddhist monk from the Edo period who dedicated hand-carved Buddha statues to villages that gave him offerings. Did you see one at the Mingeikan?”
　The Buddha statue that Mr. Nozaki mentioned was displayed in a showcase for wooden crafts. It was a funny figure that looked like it had come out of a manga. I smiled at the fact that Soetsu Yanagi also had a liking for such comical items.
　By the way, the building of Nihon Mingeikan is a beautiful samurai residence-like structure standing against the background of the forest of the Marquis Maeda residence. Soetsu Yanagi was very proud of the west wing (currently closed), which was his home. It was originally an Oya stone Nagayamon gate that he had found in Tochigi Prefecture and had moved to the current location.
　Now that I have introduced Mingeikan, allow me return to the history of TAKUMI, which opened three years earlier, toward the end of 1933 (Showa 8). Soetsu wrote a passage to celebrate the store’s opening in a monthly newsletter.
　Referring to a store that had been opened earlier by an acquaintance of his, Soetsu wrote, “Business is connected to worldly matters in many ways, and it is dangerous for scholars and hobbyists to engage in.” While saying that he had initially felt uneasy about the opening of Mingei stores, but in the latter half of his contribution, he explains the significance of TAKUMI.
“The are many types of arts and crafts movements, but the common objective is to upgrade our world to sound beauty. To this end, it is important to widely introduce proper utilitarian objects into the ordinary household. This store is to bear the role of bridge builder; and therefore, it will focus not on what will sell, but what is authentic.”
　He writes at the beginning, “I have no economic relation with TAKUMI,” so Soetsu must have been more like a supervisor or planner. From around 1935 (Showa 10), when the store began to do well, the store was run by a man called Yoshimi Asami. According to Naokuni Shiga (nephew of Naoya Shiga) who later became CEO, Yoshimi Asami was “a graduate of the University of Tokyo, arrested when he was Secretary of the Japan Farmers’ Union for violating the Public Order and Police Law and released after serving two years in jail,” so he must have been quite a leftist. However, based on my research, he seems not to have had any connection with Inajiro Asanuma.
　I should have explained earlier that TAKUMI was initially established in Tottori Prefecture in 1932 (Showa 7) before it came to Ginza. The store was run by Akinari Yoshida, an advocator of the Mingei movement and local otorhinolaryngologist who was greatly involved with the opening of the Ginza store.
　A photograph taken shortly after its opening shows a group of foreign women gathered around the store. Ginza had many visitors from overseas from before World War II. The Nishiginza area had been home to art galleries from quite a while ago. Another essence of TAKUMI’s growth was department stores. An observation of the historical timeline reveals that from around the year following the opening of TAKUMI, department stores, such as Takashimaya, Matsuzakaya and Mitsukoshi held Mingei-related events. (This year, too, Mingei exhibitions were held from August to Septemeber at Takashimaya in Nihonbashi and Osaka.)
　Speaking of department stores, Mr. Nozaki worked for Tokyo Hands in Shibuya for twenty years before coming to TAKUMI. He was responsible for the stationery section. While Tokyo Hands is slightly different from the average department store, its unchanged style of business – having staff with profound knowledge of each product wearing DIY aprons sell unique niche products – may be comparable with TAKUMI’s approach (although I should note that they have recently changed drastically).
　Looking around in the store, what catches my eye are the wood block prints by Keisuke Serizawa and Shiko Munakata, who designed the store sign and wrapping paper. Active during the latter years of the Mingei movement, Munakata had been highly appreciated by Soetsu as a young artist. I was actually in the same class as his granddaughter Yoriko when I was in junior high school at Keio. I heard afterwards from Mr. Segawa that she had dropped by the store on the first floor when I was interviewing Mr. Nozaki on the second floor. What a shame…