Katsu Miyamoto (宮本勝), in 1880, in order to increase the sales of tobacco and cigarettes to foreigners founded the Moyamoto Shoko company, which produced different silverwares in general and particularly silver cigarette cases. Miyamoto's first name, Katsu (勝) in some sources is written as "Masaru", since 勝 kanji can be pronounced in both ways.
In 1899 Moyamoto's store has been moved to Ginza district, Tokyo, where it is located till today. After the promulgation of the gold standard, which increased the interest for gold and silver metalwares, Miyamoto Shoko sales even encreased. In addition, in the beginning of the 20th century, the traffic of foreign turists widely increased, which contributed to the store growth as well. On the wave of popularity, Miyamoto designed and produced his products for many diplomatic persons, such as Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Household Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government agencies. In early 1900s Miyamoto was chosen as the President of the Precious Metal Manufacturers Association of Tokyo, in which he served for many years.

Miyamoto Shoko work made for the Imperial Household Department.

Since 1897 he was employed by the Ministry of the Imperial Household and has been favoured with Imperial orders on innumerable occasions. At the time of the death of the Emperor Meiji (1912) he manufactured silver flower wreaths by order of the chief magistrates of various foreign countries, which were offered before the spirit of the departed Emperor Meiji.
In 1919, Miyamoto established a joint-stock company Miyamoto Shoko. Around this time, the Katsu's son, Takuya Miyamoto became in charge of the business of the company. In September 1923 the store was hit by the Great Kanto Earthquake, some of the products were burnt, luckily no employees were injured and store was reopened after three months. Then, as a result of further efforts to improve the quality of products, it has led to get a credit from the customers more than ever before.
In 1941, during hard WWII times, in order to continue its business, Miyamoto became a member of the Asahi Shimbun companies group.
In October 1959, branches of the Miyamoto Shoko store were opened in Osaka and Fukuoka. In 1962, the original store was reopened in Ginza district, Tokyo.
In 1965, the exhibition of artifacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun was held at the National Museum, attended by 1.29 million visitors, where Miyamoto presented his scarab jewelry series.
In 1982, Miyamoto produced a trophy for the Japan Open Championship as a request of the Japan Golf Association.

Scarab jewelry series by Miyamoto Shoko at National Museum exhibition in 1965 (left) and the 1982 Japan Open Championship trophy (right).

In 2012 the old building where Miyamoto Shoko was located was put into restoration, forcing the store to move into another building in Ginza district. A new store has a gallery corner with exhibitions of the antique and vintage works made by Miyamoto along the company's history.

Miyamoto Shoko [宮本商行] (1880 ~ today)

Addresses and locations

Exhibitions

Marks

Individual marks of artists from the Miyamoto Shoko company

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Examples (from the web)

References