Three shops, one name — how not to walk into the wrong one in Tokyo
You can follow a name on the map and arrive at a different company entirely.
Among Tokyo's older establishments, several may share one name — the result of trademark disputes, family splits, or noren-wake, where a master lets a departing apprentice use the shop name. The problem for a visitor is arriving at the wrong one.
Three "Sarashina" in Azabu-Juban
Near Sarashina Horii there are three soba shops called Sarashina within a five-minute walk — and they are separate companies.
Same name, different business. Post-war disputes over the trademark, and the settlements that followed, split the lineage; each now trades independently. The food and the prices differ.
What to do — once you have chosen, enter the full shop name into your map, and check the characters on the sign when you arrive. Reading as far as "Sarashina" is not enough.
Three shops called Imahan
The same applies to Imahan Honten: three establishments use the name.
The character 今 has an origin. In 1895 the only government-licensed abattoir in the Kanto region stood in Imazato-cho, and shops sourcing meat from it took 今 into their names. The 半 comes from the founder, Aizawa Hantaro.
The overlap is not coincidence but evidence of a shared root.
Head shop and branch close on different days
Owariya Asakusa is not a naming problem, but the head shop and the branch keep different closing days. One may be shut while the other trades, and vice versa.
So "closed today" in a search result may apply to only one of them.
In short
- Read the full shop name — words like honten (head shop) and sohonke (main family) are there for a reason
- Check the characters on the sign when you arrive
- Verify closing days for the specific branch
- This site records the exact name wherever it has been verified
A shared name is also proof of age. Knowing the story makes it the interesting part rather than the confusing one.