The Muji stores are a branch of the The Seiyu Ltd. This company was founded in Japan in 1963, though in fact it started as Seibu Stores, and this company itself has origins going back to early in the 20th century - so it's hard to speak of the founder of Muji. However, the most important name associated with The Seiyu is Seiji Tsutsumi. He was instrumental in setting up the Seiyu group and expanding the business, and was still working for the company in 1991.

Muji stores were established in 1980; the name comes from a Japanese word meaning ‘no brand’. They began with just 9 of the most important household products and 31 food items, and from the first they followed the same corporate philosophy that made The Seiyu so successful: careful selection of products, streamlining of processes and the simplest possible packaging.

Today Muji is a large company in its own right and is listed on the Tokyo stock exchange.