The founding year depends on who you ask
1837 or 1843? Why the numbers on old shops should not be taken at face value.
Research old Tokyo businesses long enough and you hit something odd: the same shop's founding year differs from source to source.
This site was built by checking 65 places against Japanese-language sources. This was the problem we ran into most often. It is useful to travellers too, so it is worth setting out.
Three old shops on one street in Tsukudajima
Tsukuda 1-chome, Chuo ward. Three tsukudani shops stand side by side on a single street: Tenyasu, Tsukugen Tanakaya, and Tsukudani Marukyu. Locally they are called the gosanke — the big three.
Founded 1837. The name comes from Yasukichi, the first owner. The same base sauce has been carried forward for over 180 years.
Here is where it gets strange. Look up their founding years and you find this.
Source A — Tenyasu 1837 · Tanakaya 1853 · Marukyu 1859
Source B — Tanakaya 1837 · Tenyasu 1843 · Marukyu 1859
Source C — Tanakaya 1843 · Tenyasu 1837 · Marukyu 1859
Only Marukyu's 1859 holds steady. Tenyasu and Tanakaya swap 1837 and 1843 between them, so which came first changes with the source.
This site records Tenyasu as 1837, following the shop's own material and the majority of sources. The account that the name combines characters from Yasukichi, the first owner, checks out alongside it. But it is worth stating plainly that other sources give a different number.
Why this happens
- Different starting points — the year trading began, the year the present shop opened, the year the business incorporated. Which one counts as "founding" is the shop's own call
- Fire and war — Edo burned often, and the Great Kanto Earthquake and wartime bombing followed. Documents frequently did not survive
- Era conversion — Tenpo 8 is 1837, Tenpo 14 is 1843. Copying between calendars introduces errors
- Oral tradition — sometimes the basis is a story passed down in the family rather than a record
The same in Kita-Senju
Kita-Senju in Adachi is thick with drinking places. Its old establishments are in the same position.
Founded 1877. One of Tokyo's three great nikomi. Two bowls per person, no more.
Senju no Nagami, in the same neighbourhood, is described only as "about eighty years old." No precise year is given. The current owner is the third generation and works alongside the fourth — that much is documented — but the starting year remains approximate.
What is striking is the account that when it opened, it was more or less the only bar in the area. Today the street is lined with well-known places; eighty years ago there was this one.
What travellers should take from this
On the numbers
- "Founded in ○○" is usually the shop's own figure, not a public record
- Phrases like "about eighty years" or "over 150 years" mean the exact year has not survived
- Arguing about dates outside an old shop achieves nothing. Take the figure the shop gives you
The same goes for debating which of the three Tsukudajima shops is oldest. Locals do not ask. What matters is that all three have run for 160 to 180 years — and the more interesting fact is that all three taste different.
Even made from the same ingredient, the seasoning differs by house. Marukyu goes light on sugar for a cleaner soy-based finish; Tenyasu uses its inherited base sauce with soy and both red and white zarame sugar. Buying from all three and comparing is the proper use of this street.
Hours and closing days change. Please confirm before travelling.