Views of Mitsui Gofuku-ten

In response to the increase in demand for kimono from the end of the Meiji period through the Taisho period, it was the major kimono supply stores (gofukuya), which would later become department stores, that led the Tokyo Yuzen industry. Typically, many of the Japanese department stores started out in the Edo period as gofukuya or as secondhand kimono stores. For example, the Mitsukoshi Department Store we know now was established in 1673 as a gofukuya named “Echigoya”. With their knowledge of kimono, the gofukuya soon became involved in not only the sales of Yuzen, but also its production. In 1895, the "Mitsui Gofukuten" of Mitsukoshi set up a design department where they hired Japanese‐style painters on a commission basis and worked to develop new patterns. Also, in 1902, they started recruitting designs from the public for the bottom borders (susomoyo) of kimono.