Genji Antiques

According to the website (
) this place is closed. They still take custom orders via e-​mail and supply JCollector and Tansu Design.
Figures I’m ready to peruse furniture and they’re gooooone. :(

Yep, they moved to 2090 Cesar Chavez Street. Kind of miss stumbling into Genji while kicking around Japantown, but c’est la vie.
You walk into Genji and instantly want to refurnish your entire house with their stuff. Like others have said, they have awesome Tansus, among other stuff.
The staff at Genji pretty cool and very helpful if you have questions, but are not in your face. It’s nice because I enjoy *looking around* stores without being tackled by over anxious sales people. (Shout out to Pottery Barn! haha)

They have moved out of the Japantown Peace Plaza. New address is 2090 Cesar Chavez St, San Francisco 94 124
I started going there in 1999. A few years ago they started featuring a lot more newly made, modern design furniture. Just not my cup of tea. And yes, the staff can be a little disinterested. But I’ve had some good experiences as well.

I went there with my family a month ago, and the furniture was great, but customer service was pretty bad, I mean which store you go would ask you to put all the clothes back (like on the hanger and bak to where they were) after you try them on, and the lady was saying to the matter like we were making a mess there:(, I didn’t want to say anything cause my mom was having good time trying stuff on, but come on, if you really want your customer to buy your «used» clothes with tea stain on for nearly 100 dollars, please make sure they are treated as they suppose to be treated.

Never bought anything here. I think they might be expensive.
Cool stuff in here though.

Genji is awesome. That is pretty much all that needs to be said. I have picked up several small pieces and knicknacks from this place but the furniture they have here is GORGEOUS! The people are not pushy and let you come to them if you are interested in anything that you see. I have to say in my opinion everything they sell is well priced for the quality that you get. Definitely check it out.

This place makes me ache even more for my own house. I’m already imagining one of those beautiful natural wooden tables in my future dining room-​slash-​kitchen while wearing an elegant deep rasberry or sea green silk kimono. I love the set up of this store, very calming and easy to move about, almost museum like. So many unique and pretty things to gawk at and put on my wishlist. Yes, there are some affordable things too and they were selling $ 10 casual kimonos (i bought two, will go great with jeans!) outside during the Cherry Blossom Festival and inside there were some pretty kimonos for less than $ 50, but I’m still dreaming about that table!

Thank You Genji! I love this place. There are always so many wonderful things here that I can hardly believe that it could be so varied. The owner Mr Murase is a fantastic person with great taste and an unassuming demeanor of humility that shows his true generosity. I have shopped here and shopped here again as I have always been helped to the utmost.
It is also one of the very few places where you can have custom furniture made to order that most places charge $ 5000 – 10,000 to produce the same thing for about a half to a third that cost!!!
I had 3 pieces made and each came out perfectly– I may have had to wait a bit longer than expected but it is being crafted by hand in another country so I try not to worry about that– and I have had longer waits with things made here in this country.
I have also come back again and again and bought gifts and other furniture for myself and… ok, presents for me too!
I cannot say enough about this place and with his son joining the staff it may become a family legacy alliance as well.

Everytime I walk in here, I like to pretend that I’m at home, though my home is far from the way their showroom is. If I had my own home… oh and a lot more money, I’d definitely hit up this place and get some furniture for it. I’m always oooohing and ahhhing at everything from the wall panels to the cabinets (I love the one with the tiger carvings, mainly because the tiger would look better tattooed on my back), to the vases and the kimonos. Everything is really beautiful and breathtaking and one day, after I’m done with the shoe shopping and the tattoos, I’ll plunk down and buy something gorgeous here.

Let me know if this is unfair, but I used to work at Genji Antiques. However, before, during, and after have I been a fan of their craft. Their ability to bring some of the best antique objects from Japan, ranging from tansu to teaware is a delight. Their custom-​made objects are of the kind and quality nowhere to be seen in this country (and at their prices!). This has been something that I have grown to appreciate more ever since working there, because the fine level of detail can only be appreciated over a long time and through close inspection.
I have purchased from them many times in the past and am eagerly waiting for the arrival of a Showa-​era sandansu (three-​level tansu) I purchased this weekend. It was bought for a song and I know I will love it for years to come. This is why I love Genji Antiques!

I love this place sooo hard. I could stare at their gorgeous furniture and kimonos for days, even tho itll be years before i can afford them.
luckily if youre poor and cheap like me, they have affordable small things too. theres a little table right near the checkout that holds all sorts of tiny antique toys and decorations. ive bought a bunch of ceramic bells for less than 4 dollars. they are in fruit shapes like persimmons, or in the shapes of the chinese zodiac animals. ive seen the same bells in other japantown shops for 3 times as much.
the employees are super helpful and knowledgeable too. they could be really stuck up, but they are always polite to me. last time i was there, i found this little paper box with writing and a happy family printed on it. the woman who worked there told me that it was a box to hold prescriptions, from the 1970s. she said salesmen would go door to door to vend pills, and you kept them in the box.
they always wrap everything up super nice, even if its just something cheap and tiny.

***
_​_​_​_​
|_()_|__
|____|__|___
|__()___|___|___
|____|____|_____|_
|____|____|__()___|__
|____|____|_____|___|
That’s a Tansu. They sale those here. It will cost you thousands of dollars, but it’s totally worth it. The tansu that they carry are beautiful.

The best thing about this place is it’s the real deal. Japanese furniture, not «Japanesque» furniture, know what I mean? I got a tansu dresser there made in the 50’s with lots of little cubbies and big drawers, and with such simple lines it could be Scandinavian.
Delivery is reasonable too, and they’ll even do it on a weekend! Soo desu né!

i dream of the day that i can custom order a tansu from genji.

Home of antique Pleasure Palaces and even custom Bondage Beds. Just kidding. There are Shogun-​worthy palacial beds in a showroom area, but the custom and antique dressers with various panels and little drawers and extensive shelves are amazing. Helped my now-​back-​on-​the-​market friend find a stunning wall-​size dresser with enough sliding panels and drawer space to assign drawers to the stream of women who will be beating on his door (he’s getting his labelmaker ready in anticipation).
Japanese antiques and custom furniture. Quite pricey but stunning pieces — some even urban with texture. Wood, finish and feature options can be customized with several of the furniture series.
This is located on the left side of the Peace Plaza /​Pagoda next to the Miyako Hotel where there’s always been a furniture place.