Uchiyama Kanzo settled in Shanghai with his wife shortly after they were married in March of 1916. He first established a bookstore in 1917 on North Sichuan Road at a different address from the one where the store would later prosper from 1929 to 1945. Kanzo and Lu Xun first met in the original bookstore in October of 1927; and their friendship continued until Lu Xun's death nearly ten years later.