In 1673, Mitsui Takatoshi, aged 52, opened the kimono shop Echigoya in Honchō, Edo. Shops at the time sold on credit to their customers and collected payment a few times a year. Echigoya sold for cash.
Its slogan was genkin kakene nashi, cash and no markup. One company history links the signboard to the shop’s move to Surugachō in 1683.