Tokyo · Central Tokyo
Kyukyodo Ginza
Kyukyodo was founded in 1663 in Kyoto, opposite Honno-ji temple, as a medicinal-herb shop. Because the raw materials of medicines and of incense overlap, around 1700 it began making incense, and in 1880 it opened a branch in Ginza. The house crest is two doves facing each other.
The Ginza shop sells incense, scent sachets, letter paper, postcards, envelopes for gift money and calligraphy tools. You can have a name printed on letter paper, have a gift tied with mizuhiki cords and order a seal carved by hand. The building also has a gallery, mostly for calligraphy exhibitions.
The land in front of the shop is the most expensive in Japan according to the National Tax Agency's valuation, 53.36 million yen per square meter in 2026, the 41st year in a row.
Good to know
- The scent sachets, ¥176 to ¥330, are the cheap gift here and weigh almost nothing.
- Fumiko, ¥330, is a small scented paper that you slip into a letter.
- You can ask at the counter to wrap a gift with mizuhiki cords.
What is nearby
Approximate walking minutes from the entrance of Kyukyodo Ginza.
- HereKyukyodo Ginza
- 1 min
Ginza Akebono Honten Food
A Japanese sweets shop born right after the war near the 4-chome crossing, as a stand for sweet bean soup in winter and shaved ice in summer. Today mochi, dorayaki and seasonal yokan.
- ~2 min
Ginza Kimuraya Food
A bakery from 1869 at the Ginza 4-chome crossing. A bakery on floor 1 and a cafe on floor 2.
- ~3 min
Ginza Natsuno Honten Shopping
A shop that specializes in chopsticks: about 2,500 kinds and more than 1,000 chopstick rests, with name engraving that you collect the same day.
- ~4 min
Matsuya Ginza food floor Food
The department store's food floor, below ground: Japanese sweets, food boxes and pastries to take away.
- ~5 min
G.Itoya Shopping
Itoya's stationery building in Ginza, a floor for each theme: cards and letter paper, fountain pens and ink, washi paper and origami. A cafe on floor 12.
- ~5 min
Ain Soph Ginza Food
A fully vegan restaurant since 2009, right next to the Kabukiza theater.
- ~6 min
Kabukiza Theatre More to see
You do not have to sit for four hours: a single-act ticket (makumi) for the upper gallery costs ¥500 to ¥2,500 depending on the length of th