COMPANYINFORMATION
PHILOSOPHY
Omoshiro no Hanazakari
This was the fuchō — the private cipher — that we used from our founding until the years before the war. A code of sorts, used in older times within a company to crystallize its mission, in which each character stood in place of a numeral from zero to nine. Our predecessors chose, as the very foundation of their trade's cipher, these words: Omoshiro no Hanazakari. Roughly, “the allure of the flower in full bloom”.
Looking deeper, the word “omoshiro” traces its roots to the classical omoshiro-shi, where “omo” speaks of what lies before one's eyes, and “shiro” of brightness, of clarity. Together, they came to express the state of the world opening luminously before you: a beautiful vista, suddenly revealed. In time, the word grew to encompass that which delights the heart, and that which is graceful, refined, and full of elegance.
Omoshiro no Hanazakari is, in essence, the guiding principle of all we curate. To bring together things that delight, that speak of refinement, things that enchant. When many such wonderful things are gathered, a shop blooms like flowers in full glory. And in that blooming, we believe, something reaches the hearts of those who enter; a felt sense of life's true richness.
In the age ahead, things alone may no longer be enough. We must also give form to spaces that enchant, to experiences that captivate. What delights will surely change with every era. Yet we shall go forward, as we always have, unwaveringly dedicated to Omoshiro no Hanazakari.
TAGLINE
“Brilliance That Was and Ever Will Be”
This has become our tagline, our credo. The brilliance, of course, emanates from the jewelry that we make, which sparkles and radiates light in truly astonishing ways. It’s a quality that we continue to pursue with greater conviction than ever before. But there is also the other meaning of brilliance. The brilliance of our artisans’ imagination, and the brilliance born of years upon years of inherited knowledge of the craft.
The “ever will be” part of our watchwords says, of course, that its beauty is eternal, but also that we honor the value of jewelry as something more than an object to adore. Each piece of art we produce represents a cherished legacy that will be passed on to future generations as symbols of love and commitment, hopes and values, joining those things that will always endure.
SYMBOL
The characters in our company symbol are aligned vertically, honoring the tradition and spirit of Japanese culture, and especially that of Kyoto, from whose history all that we are is woven. But we chose to use Western characters, reflecting our desire to reach out and find favor in the wider world.
The design is balanced, symmetrical, harmonious, and it suggests a human form standing in attendance. We meant this to embody our innate desire to communicate heart to heart, and to recognize the cherished and unchanging bonds we form, one to another.
EMBLEM
Our Company’s Name — 今与
In the Japanese characters that spell Imayo we envision a person entering a shop beneath a noren. That is the set of small curtains you’ll see above the threshold of a Japanese restaurant. In Japanese eyes these always say “welcome”. In this image lives the cultural spirit of Kyoto, Imayo’s 160 years as part of that city’s history, and our abiding desire to be a space in the world that everyone wishes to enter and explore. Taken together in the way we’ve stylized them, the characters can also evoke the face of a smiling person. A gentle expression of our belief that what matters, above all else, is the connection between one heart and another.
INFORMATION
- Company Name
Imayo & Co., Ltd. / 株式会社 今与
- Founded
1861 (1st year of the Bunkyū era)
- Incorporated
1966
- Capital
¥98,000,000
- Representative
Imanishi Nobutaka, President & Representative Director
- Locations
Headquarters
218 Okurachō, Karasuma-dōri Takeyamachi Agaru, Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto 604-0861
Tel.075-211-5141 (Main)
Fax.075-211-2398
Tokyo Office
4F, Daisan Masaki Building, 2-10-1 Higashi-Ueno, Taitō-ku, Tokyo 110-0015
Tel.03-3831-5963 (Main)
Fax.03-3837-1965
Osaka Office
Room 408, 4F, Tōyō Building Shinkan, 2-4-1 Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka, Osaka 530-0012
Tel.06-4963-2581 (Main)
Fax.06-4963-2587
- Business
Vertically integrated jewelry company — from manufacture to retail
- Affiliated Company
Takada Hōshokuten Co., Ltd.
- Overseas Offices
- Imayo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
- Imayo (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
- Key Clients
- Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (Mitsukoshi / Isetan)
- H2O Retailing Corporation (Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores)
- Kintetsu Department Store Co., Ltd.
and others
- Memberships
- JJA — Japan Jewellery Association
- TDE — Tokyo Diamond Exchange
- WFDB — World Federation of Diamond Bourses
- Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- Kyoto Shinise no Kai (Association of Long-Established Kyoto Businesses)
