Torakusu Yamaha
Japanese
founder
instrument maker
president
Biography
Torakusu Yamaha established his business of making musical instruments in Japan in 1880 and, in 1885, produced the first organ made in the country. In 1889 he organized the Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha (Japanese Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company) with a capital of 30,000 yen, which by 1907 had grown to 600,000 yen, nearly 500,000 of which was paid up. Yamaha served as president of the company, which owned extensive factories at Hamamatsu and produced, at the time of writing, about 600 pianos, 8,000 organs and 13,000 violins per year, patterned mainly after American and German models.
Highlights
- Established his musical instrument business in Japan in 1880
- Produced the first organ made in Japan in 1885
- Organized the Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha in 1889
Source
Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 265, 266.
Public domain.