Iida Shinshichi I

• Born: 1803
• Died: 1874/7/29
• Other Names: 中野鉄次郎 (Nakano Tetsujirou)
• Japanese: 飯田新七 (Iida Shinshichi)

Iida Shinshichi was the founder of a secondhand clothing shop which later developed into the Takashimaya department store corporation.

Born in Tsuruga in Echizen province, his childhood name was Nakano Tetsujirô. While apprenticing under a Kyoto textiles merchant, he took the name Shinshichi. Then, in 1828, he married into the family of rice merchant Takashimaya Iida Gihee, whose shop was named after his hometown, in the Takashima district of Ômi province. Shinshichi began selling secondhand clothes out of the rice shop, and in 1831, opened his own shop, calling it Takashimaya, and selling secondhand clothes.

He eventually passed on his business to his son, Iida Shinshichi II, under whom it prospered. The business was strong enough, and flexible enough, to survive the turbulent Bakumatsu period and to adapt to new circumstances after the Meiji Restoration.

References

• "Iida Shinshichi (shodai)." Asahi Nihon rekishi jinbutsu jiten 朝日日本歴史人物事典. Asahi Shimbun.
• Conant, Ellen. "Cut from Kyoto Cloth: Takeuchi Seihô and his Artistic Milieu." Impressions 33 (2012). p75.