Gekkoso was born from a single tanka poem.
"You came from the moon in the sky, shining in the day and shining in the night"
The poet Yosano Akiko, who loved Gekkoso's founder, Hashimoto Hyozo and called him "the man of moonlight," sent him this poem to celebrate the establishment of the store. Her husband, Yosano Tekkan, then quoted from a poem by the French poet Verlaine and named the store "Gekkoso." The characters for "Gekkoso" on the sign at the current store entrance are also handwritten by Yosano Akiko.
Signboard at the Ginza main store
Having spent his impressionable childhood in the natural surroundings of Toyama, Hyozo eventually came to yearn for Tokyo, and in 1912, at the age of 18, he moved there. After working a variety of jobs, including as a postman, he began working as a live-in clerk in the home of YMCA director Mr. Fisher in Kudan. At the time, the poets Yosano Tekkan and his wife Akiko lived in the house opposite.
Hyozo, who had long been an avid reader of the Yosano couple's poetry collections, yearned every day for a chance to meet them, and one day he finally made up his mind to visit them by himself.
The couple welcomed the young man, a country bumpkin, without a word of hesitation when he unexpectedly showed up to visit them. They took a liking to Hyozo, and not only did they invite him to come any time, but they also began to introduce him to the guests who would occasionally gather at the Yosano residence.
At the time, the couple were the editors of the magazine "Myojo," and their home was frequented by people from all genres, including poets such as Kitahara Hakushu, Ishikawa Takuboku, and Takamura Kotaro, painters such as Fujishima Takeji, Umehara Ryuzaburo, Arishima Ikuma, and Okada Saburosuke, as well as architects and kabuki actors.
Cover of the 10th issue of "Myojo" (published on January 1, 1901), published by Tokyo Shinshisha
Before he knew it, Hyozo was wondering if there was any way he could join this fascinating group of artists and be of help to them, and they all began to offer him advice.
"You have a passion for color, and you have a good sense and sensibility, so why don't you try doing something related to color?"
Hyozo had long heard artists complain about the quality of paints and art supplies available in the country, and this advice solidified his decision to become an art supply dealer.
And when it was finally time to open the shop, Akiko Yosano recited the poem at the beginning of this article. Hashimoto Heizo was 23 years old at the time.
The trademark "Horn that Calls Friends" was devised by a group of intellectuals at the time, led by the Yosano couple (Kaoru Oyamauchi, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Toson Shimazaki, Takeo Arishima, the first Ennosuke, Ritsuko Mori, Takeji Fujishima, Saburosuke Okada, and over 30 others), with the hope that the sound of the horn would bring many friends together. How touched Hyozo must have been.
The trademark horn that calls to friends
The architectural design of the store was supervised by Tsuguharu Foujita, and the store was designed as if it was a direct copy of a street corner in Paris, which was quite innovative for the time, so it was used as a location for various movies due to its unusual architecture. The store clerk was a tall French woman, and it seemed to have a very sophisticated atmosphere for the time.
On the glass door to the left, you can see the words "Gekkoso Service Station."
Worried about Hyozo's financial situation, Yosano Akiko had him carry her business card with "my friend" written on it, and introduced him to Soma Aizo, the owner of Shinjuku Nakamuraya, Yasuda Zenjiro, a Toyama native and founder of Fuji Bank, and Kagawa Toyohiko, founder of the Consumers' Cooperative, and had him learn the basics of business management.
"Instead of thinking about what will sell, sell what makes people happy."
“Make what you sell yourself, and sell only what you have confidence in. And don’t slash the price just to make a sale. A painter who jumps at paints like that will never be successful. You should never be a slave to money.”
With these words from our great predecessors in mind, Gekkoso set sail on the boundless ocean of art.
Since its founding, Gekkoso has cherished the idea that "sense of color and sense of sound are the treasures of life."
