About
Marubelldo
Established 102 years ago
we are the only store in Japan
specializing in celebrity photo “Promide”
Established 102 years ago
we are the only store in Japan
specializing in celebrity photo “Promide”
The Taisho era (1912-1926) was a time when popular culture and entertainment flourished. Jitsushiro Mitsuzawa, an avid fan of foreign films, organized an association for collecting movie stills and photos of actors with Roppa Furukawa, who later became the king of comedy in the Showa era.
He thought that this was the right job for him, and in May 1921, he opened a small Promide store on Shin-Nakamise-dori in Asakusa, Tokyo, which was the biggest entertainment district in Japan. This was the birth of Marubell-do.
Promide,” photographs of stars, became popular as a collectible item for fans and attracted attention as a new age business with its innovative advertising and humorous products. A century has passed since this passionate and dynamic founder, Jitsushiro Mitsuzawa. From movie actors, singers, and group sounds to athletes, comedians, idols, local characters, and new artists, Marubeludo has photographed approximately 2,800 stars and published 85,000 editions of Promide so far, mainly from the Showa era.
Photographs of stars taken for the purpose of sale are called “Promide” at MARUBELL-DO, and are printed on original size photographic paper (140mm x 89mm, 10mm longer vertically than L-format paper) with our special silver halide printing process. The name of the star is printed on the back, and each piece is sealed in vinyl with the “Promide MARUBELL” logo. The photos have been taken by Marubelledo’s exclusive photographers for generations, placing the utmost importance on photographing from the fans’ point of view. The stars are lit from the front, and the fingertips, which fans like to see, are close to the face. The “Marbel pose,” in which the subject looks at the camera, has become a standard Promide style, and has been passed down to the present day as a traditional style of photography.
