Marumitsu Main Store

Status: Removed
Installed: October, 1953
Deactivated: July 15, 1987
Removed: 1987> <2000
Schedule:
Kojo no Tsuki @ 0700, 0900, 1200, 1500, and 1700
Ko no Michi @ 2100

Although listed as an 'unknown' location on Evan's ARS post, this is one of the most documented music sirens out there. As the story goes, during renovations in the early 50's, a music siren was installed on top of the building in honor of the completion of the 11th floor. You can see the music siren at the bottom of the picture to the right, sitting under its sun hood.

The original schedule was just Kojo no Tsuki at its given times, the choice since the piece was written in Sendai. But at some point, Miyagi Prefectural Police requested that the store play a song later in the night to tell kids to go home, seemingly to stop delinquency. So, the song chosen was Ko no Michi, playing at 9 PM. According to various sources, Ko no Michi was played by an employee on the siren's keyboard every night.

The siren ran well over the following 20 year, and at least four instances of the siren sounding have been documented. In 1963, the music siren was featured on an official CD from Marumitsu, which you can hear here. [Kojo no Tsuki] [Ko no Michi] Additionally, in the 70's, another recording was taken, which you can hear here. However, as a result from playing 6 times a day, the music siren began experiencing malfunctions, and in 1987, the music siren's shaft reportedly siezed. As a result, the music siren could not operate without major repairs.

In September of the same year, the siren briefly sounded again, but due to many faulty parts, the siren sounded for the last time on the 27th of the same month. You can listen to a recording from September 23rd here to hear how bad it sounded at the time.

The music siren's removal is unknown. Marumitsu turned into Sakurano, and now Sakurano is demolishing the old building as of January 2026.

Japan, 〒980-0021 Miyagi, Sendai, Aoba Ward, Chūō, 1-chōme−9−33 さくら野百貨店仙台店