Torakusu Yamaha: Biography and Story of the Founder of Yamaha
Torakusu Yamaha is known as the founder of Yamaha, which is one of the largest manufacturing companies in the world. The Yamaha company is currently known for its various technologies and innovations such as in the automotive, musical instruments and electronics fields. What’s the story?
Torakusu Yamaha Biography
Torakusu Yamaha, who is known as the founder of Yamaha, was born on April 20, 1851 in Kishu Tokugawa. The area is currently called Wakayama Prefecture.
Initially, Torakusu Yamaha founded a company to produce organ musical instruments in 1887. He was also known as a person who really liked western technology and science.
The beginning of his business came when he really liked watches while he was in Osaka, so he then learned how to make watches and also learned to do business on the roadside in the Osaka area.
Because of his skills in repairing watches, Torakusu Yamaha was then called to a hospital in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture to repair medical equipment there. Stay up-to-date with Deltsapure! Provide accurate and updated news for readers.
Discovering Organ Musical Instruments
On one occasion, the hospital asked whether Torakusu Yamaha could repair the organ (musical instrument) that was damaged at that time. He then tried to fix it and succeeded, this event then marked Torakusu Yamaha’s first step towards the birth of the Yamaha brand.
Seeing the business potential of organ musical instruments, Torakusu Yamaha created a blueprint for the interior of an organ musical instrument, then he succeeded in creating a prototype of an organ musical instrument that he made himself.
Even so, the organ (musical instrument) created by Torakusu Yamaha received a lot of criticism because of its poor sound quality. Seeing this, for four months Torakusu Yamaha then studied music theory and sound tuning techniques (Stem/Tuning) on his homemade organ musical instrument.
Established the Yamaha Company
Until finally his efforts were not in vain and the organ musical instruments he made were accepted by the public, making the Yamaha company which was founded in 1897, which was then called the Nippon Gakki Company, become known as a company that makes organ musical instruments in Japan.
Torakusu Yamaha died on August 8 1916 when the company he founded was already very large. After the death of Torakusu Yamaha, when World War I was raging, the Yamaha Company began producing its own hand-made harmonicas and phonographs in 1920.
After World War II, in 1950 Yamaha expanded production again by starting to manufacture bows, boats and other products made from fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP).
Yamaha Enters the Automotive Industry
In 1955, Yamaha expanded its wings in the automotive sector by producing motorbikes. Year after year the company founded by Torakusu Yamaha continued to develop its production, in the 1970s this company developed various electronic musical instruments and technology.
Until now, Yamaha Corporation is a large manufacturer of musical instruments and motorbikes. Yamaha continues to strive to give special attention to its customers and helps customers with good after-sales service.
Yamaha’s name grew bigger when it sponsored activities such as contests, motorbike competitions, music groups and other programs. It should be noted that the Yamaha Motor Company is the second largest manufacturer in terms of making motorbikes, besides that it also produces all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), snowmobiles, boats and so on.
In 1960 Yamaha International Corporation was founded to market musical and audio/visual instruments in the United States. Yamaha Corporation of America (YCA) is a subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation and is the largest subsidiary of all global subsidiaries.
In 2006 YCA established a subsidiary called Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems (YCAS) to offer a growing line of commercial audio products to the United States and Canadian markets, in order to distribute Nexo speaker products. In the automotive sector, especially Yamaha’s technology development, it competes closely with Honda, which was founded by Soichiro Honda.
The Yamaha Corporation
In 1987, precisely in October, which was 100 years old, Yamaha officially changed its name to The Yamaha Corporation. In 1992 Seisuke Ueshima, the eighth president, began reorganizing the company after the company experienced financial difficulties.
Yamaha began to focus on high-end products such as the Disklavier series of pianos, with built-in computers capable of recording and playing back performances. In 2007 Yamaha was bought by minority shareholders from the Kemble family Yamaha-Kemble Musik (UK) Ltd.
At the end of 2007 Yamaha made an agreement with the Austrian Bank BAWAG PSK BAWAG Group which aims to purchase all of Bösendorfer’s shares, and intends to take place in early 2008. Yamaha aims to continue manufacturing at the Bösendorfer facility in Austria.
In February 2008, Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH began operating as a subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. At that time Yamaha became the world’s largest producer of musical instruments (including drums, pianos, guitars, celli, violins, violas).
Apart from that, Yamaha is also a leading manufacturer of audio/visual, semiconductor and other products related to computers and machine tools, special metal furniture to industrial robot products.
The company founded by Torakusu Yamaha has many subsidiaries and affiliates in overseas markets in addition to several related companies in Japan. Yamaha Motor Company, Livingtec Yamaha Corporation, Yamaha Pro Audio, Yamaha Bike Technologies Co, Ltd, Metanix Yamaha Corporation are a number of other companies that are still in the same Yamaha group.
