It feels like an early Showa era version of Sekaido. The display of retro stationery such as brushes, ink, and inkstones is fun. There were a wide variety of brushes, and some were so large that I wondered what they would be used for, but perhaps they were on a larger scale than modern times, such as for New Year's calligraphy.

This is a stationery store built in Kanda Suda-cho, Chiyoda-ku in 1928. Unfortunately, the building next door is under construction and covered in blue tarpaulin, but it is a beautiful three-story building made of wood and brick. The interior of the store is dark and filled with retro stationery such as brushes and inkstones. In addition, this building is also built in the form of a signboard architecture.

I want you to look at it from the front first. Isn't it an impressive three-story building? Next, I want you to look at it from behind. What appeared to be the third floor was actually a hipped roof. After the Great Kanto Earthquake, there was a boom in signboard construction, and around the same time, there was also a boom in hip-fold roofs. Since a three-story building was not an option due to the number of floors, they decided to adopt this type of roof (which has a larger volume) with the idea that ``this is an attic.'' However, the roof of this building is in a bit of a bad shape. It looks more like a rectangular parallelepiped than an arch. It's interesting to see the desire to ``secure living space to the limit'' here. And yet, when you look at it from the front, it's decorated so splendidly that you can tell that it's a three-story building. This is the royal road to signboard architecture. It's a picturesque property that would have wanted a garden.

This is a stationery store located in Kandasukacho, where calligraphy tools and other items are on display.

Takei Sanseido. A signboard building built in 1927 (Showa 2).

The side wall looks like the boiler room of the bathhouse that appears in the Ghibli animation ``Spirited Away.''

A stationery store founded in the early Meiji period, the store initially focused on wholesale calligraphy supplies such as brushes, inkstones, and inkstones, but later changed to a retail store that also handled paintbrushes and stationery. A paulownia wood box containing nearly 200 brushes was neatly housed on the walls of the not-so-large store, and there was a basement beneath the store, where products were unpacked and packed. Takei Sanseido is a signature building built after the earthquake, and its characteristics can be seen in the brown tiled front and mansard roof with a steep slope in the middle. The inside of the store is a reproduction of what it looked like in the 1950s, but it was founded in 1929 and was located in what is now 1-chome, Kanda-Suda-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.

2023.12 The building is a stationery store built in Kanda-Suda-cho in 1928. This is also a so-called front signboard architecture. The inside of the store has been recreated to look like it was in the 1950s, with items such as India ink, seaweed, and abacus, and the walls are lined with paulownia wood boxes for holding brushes. You can also go around to the back of the building, where there is a well and you can feel a different sense of life from the front.

There are brushes, inkstones, etc. lined up in every corner. The storage on the ceiling and walls is especially impressive. I think I would buy it if it were on sale.

It's a so-called signboard building. The inside is small, so you'll have to take turns to tour.

千と千尋の神隠しの釜爺の仕事場のモデルになってます。レトロな雰囲気があり、一見の価値ありです。