Edo-Period Shop Selling Traditional Japanese Candy Found in Tranquil Temple Grounds

By Tomoyuki Momii / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

12:49 JST, January 13, 2026

A short walk from Kishibojinmae Station on the Toden Arakawa Line in Tokyo brings you to Kishimojin hall, founded over 350 years ago and long revered as a temple dedicated to the deity of safe childbirth. The hall is enveloped in greenery and tranquility, and it’s hard to believe it’s in the city center. Blending into the scenery is an old shop named Kamikawaguchiya.

Founded in 1781 during the mid-Edo period as a candy shop, it later became a shop selling various dagashi, or cheap old-fashioned Japanese snacks. Masayo Uchiyama, 85, is the shop’s 13th owner. Since her adoptive mother, the previous owner, died 36 years ago, she has run the shop basically alone.

Uchiyama began working at the shop around age 10. Back then, she enjoyed searching for broken or unsellable dagashi. “If I found them, I could eat them myself,” she recalls, describing it as a small reward for herself. After working at a company in Tokyo, she took over the shop at her family’s request. She married at 29, and half a century passed as she worked at the shop and kept house.

According to Uchiyama, the wooden shop building was discovered by university researchers to have been built around the late Edo period. It survived war damage and is close to its original state with only repairs having been carried out. A space to serve customers from a kneeling position is said to have been created during the Edo period to keep the shopkeeper’s head low in front of visiting feudal lords.

On top of boxes made of paulownia wood, which are said to be over a century old, there are plastic cases filled with nostalgic childhood snacks. Popular items from its candy shop era, like chitose stick candy and yuzu candy, are no longer available since the craftsmen who made them have died. However, the selection remains rich, featuring traditional fugashi wheat gluten confectionery and puffed rice snacks alongside chocolates and savory snack foods. Though the selection varies, there are always around 80 types of colorful snacks to delight the eye.

Rising prices have increased procurement costs, making the business challenging for Uchiyama. Still, she says, “There’s joy here that you can’t buy with money, like customers greeting me. I want to keep this shop going as long as I live.”

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Kamikawaguchiya

Address: 3-15-20 Zoshigaya, Toshima Ward, Tokyo (within the grounds of Zoshigaya Kishimojin hall)

Access: Five-minute walk from Zoshigaya Station on Tokyo Metro’s Fukutoshin Line; 15-minute walk from JR Ikebukuro Station’s east exit

Hours: Open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Irregular closing days