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Relationship with the Shimadzu Clan, the leading samurai clan in Kyushu

Many people hear the name “Shimadzu Corporation” and wonder whether we are connected to the Shimadzu samurai clan. In this article we take a deeper look at our feudal past and explore the roots of Genzo Shimadzu Sr., the founder of Shimadzu Corporation.

Going back to the late 16th century, around 300 years before Genzo's time, Yoshihisa Shimadzu, a samurai leader from the Satsuma Province (roughly present-day Kagoshima Prefecture) was expanding his influence in an attempt to conquer all of Kyushu. In approximately 1587, he became a vassal to the famous Hideyoshi Toyotomi.

Several years later, Yoshihisa's younger brother Yoshihiro visited Kyoto. While he was there, Hideyoshi awarded him a fiefdom in Banshu (present-day southwestern Hyogo Prefecture). On the return journey to Satsuma, Yoshihiro made a detour to inspect his new fief. The man who received him was Sobei Inoue, an ancestor of Genzo Shimadzu, founder of Shimadzu Corporation. Sobei was a long-term resident of that area as the Inoue family served the Kuroda Clan, who were in turn vassals to Hideyoshi.

Sobei assisted Yoshihiro meticulously by helping with his inspections and looking after his needs. In recognition of his services, Yoshihiro allowed Sobei Inoue to adopt the Shimadzu name and clan emblem, (the crossed circle), which later became the logo of Shimadzu Corporation. Sobei Inoue subsequently took the name Sobei Shimadzu. Later, the Kuroda Clan received the region of Chikuzen (present-day Fukuoka Prefecture) as a reward for their service during the Battle of Sekigahara, and Sobei would relocate there. This would become the home of the Shimadzu family for many generations.

Genzo's father Risaku (Seibei) moves to Kyoto

Many years later, around 1813, Risaku Shimadzu, a ninth-generation descendant of the Sobei family, left Fukuoka for Kyoto at a young age, leaving control of family affairs in the hands of his brother-in-law. He changed his name to Seibei and started manufacturing Buddhist altar fittings (incense burners, candle stands, and flower stands) near Nishi Honganji Temple. Seibei had two sons and a daughter, and his second son Genzo, who would go on to found Shimadzu Corporation, was born in 1839.

Genzo learned casting and metalworking skills from his father Seibei at an early age. In 1860, he moved to Kiyamachi-Nijo after receiving permission from his older brother Yusuke, who had succeeded Seibei, to establish his own business.

During this time Kyoto was in a chaotic state as it was the end of the Shogunate and many people were plotting to reform or overthrow the government. The Kinmon Incident of 1864 sparked fierce urban warfare, and in 1868, the Battle of Toba-Fushimi took place, marking the start of the Boshin War, which laid waste to Kyoto.

The Meiji Era began that same year, and in 1869, the emperor changed his place of rule from Kyoto to Tokyo. Along with this relocation of the capital, a significant number of aristocratic families and influential merchants also moved to Tokyo.

"Japan must become a leader in science." The founding of Shimadzu Corporation

Kyoto was struggling, but leaders such as Masanao Makimura, second governor of Kyoto Prefecture, and Hiroakira Akashi, a physician and chemist with a background in Dutch studies, began efforts to rebuild the city.

The Industry and Commerce Promotion Office was founded to encourage entrepreneurship and attract businesses, and played a role in setting policies to stimulate industrial activity. The Physics and Chemistry Research Institute (like other specialized institutions established by Japan's prefectures) studied modern science and technology, and the Drug Control Laboratory conducted testing of imported pharmaceuticals. These institutions and others like them opened their doors one after another and were all located close to Genzo's residence and workshop in Kiyamachi-Nijo, where he manufactured altar fittings.

Inspired by the changes unfolding before his eyes, Genzo became acquainted with Hiroakira Akashi and other local dignitaries, and began visiting the Physics and Chemistry Research Institute regularly. For the institute, the proximity of Genzo's workshop, his boundless curiosity, and his fabrication skills and dexterity, made him the ideal person to entrust with the repair and maintenance of instruments and equipment being introduced from the West.

Genzo became increasingly knowledgeable about the structure and inner workings of the machines being brought to him. Eventually, confident in his own skills, he decided to manufacture some of them himself. On March 31, 1875, he announced that he would begin manufacturing instruments for physics and chemistry use. This was the moment that Shimadzu Corporation was founded.

Absorbing advanced knowledge from foreign technicians

Genzo had the advantage of being a bright and studious metalworker. Even more fortunate was his acquaintance with two foreigners familiar with advanced Western technology who were willing to guide him.

Anton Geerts was a Dutch pharmacologist hired by the Drug Control Laboratory, a government organization charged with inspecting imported medicines that was part of the Physics and Chemistry Research Institute. Geerts only spent around 18 months at the laboratory, but while he was there, he taught Genzo metallurgy and other skills. Genzo applied what he learned to the manufacturing of tin bougies, which could be used as dilators, sondes, and fine tubes for medical practice, and which he exhibited at the First National Industrial Exhibition in 1877. The product was acclaimed, and Genzo earned an honorable mention award.

After Geerts left Kyoto, the Physics and Chemistry Research Institute invited a German engineer, Dr. Gottfried Wagener, as a new instructor. Wagener was versed in numerous fields of science, including mathematics, natural history, physics, geology, crystallography, and mechanics. In addition to scientific lectures, he lectured students in techniques of manufacturing industrial chemicals. In doing so, he began asking Genzo, whose workshop was close by, to assemble and repair the instruments and machines used in these classes.

The two men became close friends, and Wagener taught Genzo what he knew about the manufacturing and operation of instruments used for physics and chemistry, as well as how to use a pedal-powered wooden lathe brought from Europe. Wagener remained at the institute for about three years, and when he left Kyoto, he gave the lathe to Genzo. It has been carefully preserved to this day at the Shimadzu Foundation Memorial Museum.

Genzo's balloon takes to the skies and makes him a household name

In December 1877, Genzo achieved a feat that instantly made his name known to the world. To the amazement and subsequent applause of 48,000 onlookers, a balloon that he had built with his own hands successfully took flight from the plaza of the Kyoto Sento Imperial Palace.

It all began with a request from the prefecture of Kyoto.

Masanao Makimura, governor of Kyoto Prefecture, was eager to promote technical education throughout the prefecture. He knew that to achieve high levels of expertise, technical education needed to begin as early as possible. The fact that he established 64 elementary schools in 1869, three years before the standardization of Japan's school system, is proof of his commitment.

“I want to prove that a balloon can carry a passenger to boost awareness of science education in the prefecture. I want you to make that balloon.” Genzo received this request from Makimura in the early summer of 1877. The date of the event had already been fixed, and Genzo had just a few months to prepare.

Having only seen such balloons in foreign illustrations, and with hardly any proper materials, Genzo embarked on a process of trial and error. The biggest challenge was developing the material for the balloon, which would be filled with hydrogen. After many attempts, he found that the best material, in terms of airtightness and weight, was thin silk coated in dammar gum that had been dissolved in perilla oil. However, the balloon’s buoyancy was limited, so Genzo asked the smallest man from his client’s company to ride as passenger.

On December 6, the day of the launch, Genzo generated hydrogen gas by pouring dilute sulfuric acid onto iron shavings in sake barrels he had arranged in a circle. The gas traveled through iron pipes leading from the barrels to a larger barrel in the center, and from there into Genzo’s balloon. As the crowd watched, the balloon left the ground and rose to a height of about 36 meters. The success of this experiment created major publicity for Shimadzu’s technological capabilities.

Young Umejiro demonstrates his talents

Genzo was often asked to repair western-made devices. His eldest son Umejiro, born in 1869, showed great interest in western technology. Though busy helping his father at home, he borrowed a physics textbook by a Frenchman named Adolphe Ganot. The book contained explanations of the principles of measuring instruments for physics and chemistry, and Umejiro spent two years replicating the devices depicted in the book by relying on the diagrams alone. Using the knowledge he gained, he later built his own electrostatic generator in his mid-teens.

At that time, Holtz friction generators were used in tabletop demonstrations of electric power generation. These devices generated electricity through the interaction between a rapidly rotating glass disk and inductors attached to a fixed pair of disks. The Englishman James Wimshurst improved on this approach with two counterrotating disks that generated high-voltage static electricity. Umejiro built a Wimshurst electrostatic generator and displayed it at the Kyoto Exhibition to the astonishment of his adult audience.

With his outstanding expertise and inquisitive mind, Umejiro created a succession of devices in collaboration with his father for use in physics and chemistry, helping to boost Shimadzu Corporation’s business.

Focusing on storage batteries to meet society’s needs

In1886, Genzo published the first issue of the Physics and Chemistry Industrial Arts Journal, a periodical featuring the latest theories and information on physics and chemistry. Though busy managing the company’s manufacturing, in 1887 Umejiro accepted an invitation to serve as a lecturer at the national teacher training institute in Kyoto.

Around this time, Genzo and Umejiro became acquainted with an American missionary who was teaching science at Doshisha University. Before he returned to the U.S. in 1889, he gave Genzo a book titled Elementary Treatise on Natural Philosophy, by A. P. Deschanel. In this book Genzo discovered a diagram of a storage battery with a different design from the primary batteries he had been making. Though prototypes of full-scale lead storage batteries had been made in Japan a few years before, research had since ceased. While Deschanel did not explain the manufacturing process for lead storage batteries in the book, Genzo began a trial-and-error effort to produce them, relying on Experimental Science by George Hopkins. Umejiro also took a great interest in the challenge.

Still, the two men had little time for battery research since they were busy dealing with the increasing demand for scientific instruments needed for research and measurement in chemistry and physics. They were also providing technical consulting to help modernize Kyoto for projects such as the construction of the Lake Biwa Canal, the Keage Power Plant, and a streetcar system. In 1894, Genzo expanded the Kiyamachi head office and built a new shop, but late that year he abruptly passed away due to a brain hemorrhage. The 25-year-old Umejiro changed his name to Genzo Shimadzu Jr., and took on his father's business.

Success in X-ray photography and the first medical device made in Japan

In November 1895, German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered a form of radiation that could penetrate an object and reveal its interior. Röntgen named this energy X-radiation, to represent its unknown nature. When he announced his discovery in December of that year, the news traveled quickly around the world.

In Japan, researchers in Tokyo and the Kansai region worked to replicate Röntgen’s discovery. Among them was Professor Hanichi Muraoka of the Third Higher School (today’s Kyoto University), who had studied under Röntgen in Germany. However, the batteries and sensor coils of the day lacked the electrical performance needed for X-ray production, and the experimenters struggled to make progress.

Professor Muraoka wondered if the Wimshurst electrostatic generator he had seen at the National Industrial Exhibition could be used to supply higher voltages and subsequently turned to Genzo Jr. for help. Genzo Jr. readily agreed and offered Shimadzu Corporation's factory as a laboratory. Assisted by his younger brother Genkichi, Genzo Jr. and Muraoka conducted extensive experiments.

Then, on October 10, 1896, in less than a year after Röntgen's discovery, Genzo Jr. succeeded in generating 200,000 volts of continuous power by using an electric motor to rotate the discs of a Wimshurst electrostatic generator. After about 30 minutes, the apparatus detected the silhouette of a one-yen silver coin placed inside a wooden box. This was the first successful X-ray image taken in Japan.

Various improvements were soon made, such as the use of more sensitive coils to generate higher voltages. This made it possible to take high-quality X-ray photographs, and enabled Genzo Jr. to commercialize an instructional X-ray device that drew a great deal of interest when it was put on the market in 1897. He continued to further develop X-ray technology for medical applications, and in September 1909, his company delivered the first domestically produced medical X-ray device, establishing the Shimadzu name in the world of medicine.

Full-scale storage battery production begins

In 1930, Genzo Jr. was named one of Japan's top ten inventors for his world-first inventions.

In 1895, Genzo Jr. had started working on developing storage batteries using prototype cathode and anode plates, but became preoccupied with experiments in radiography and the development of an X-ray device for educational use. However, once his work on radiography had largely succeeded, the newly established Kyoto Imperial University College of Science and Engineering asked him to start manufacturing storage batteries. To help him get started, the university provided him with foreign-made storage batteries that were no longer in use as a reference.

Genzo Jr. had been researching storage batteries for some time, and it did not take him long to invent a storage battery with a capacity of 10 amperes per hour. After he delivered this battery to the university, news of his success spread, and battery orders started coming in, prompting Shimadzu to begin full-scale production.

Japan's first commercial hydroelectric power plant had been built in Keage near Kyoto. The plant began transmitting electricity in 1891, but its power output was unstable, creating further need for storage batteries. Demand for instruments designed for research and measurement in chemistry and physics was also on the rise, and the factory in Kiyamachi Nijo became too small to meet such demand. Consequently, Genzo Jr. built a new factory in Kawaramachi in 1903.

At the time, all large storage batteries were imported from abroad, motivating Genzo Jr. to strive to invent Japan’s first high-quality batteries. In 1908, he registered “GS Storage Battery” as a trademark product, using Genzo Shimadzu Sr.’s initials in the product name. His battery was a success and was highly rated on the market.

Shimadzu pioneers reactive lead powder production

Despite Genzo Jr.’s success with battery invention, a major challenge remained. The principal raw material for battery electrode plates was lead suboxide, a material that had to be imported, making stable procurement a challenge.

Genzo Jr. overcame this problem through trial, error, and persistent experimentation. To obtain reactive lead powder, a precursor of lead suboxide, he borrowed a ceramic powder mill. However, the machine could not produce powder of the required fineness. Then one winter morning, Genzo Jr. noticed black dust in the mill’s feed port. He wiped it off with his finger, but it soon accumulated again, prompting him to examine it with a magnifying glass. It turned out to be the reactive lead powder he was trying to produce, and after he installed an aerator in the feed port, the mill’s output jumped by a factor of 18. Industrial applications of lead suboxide in storage batteries and elsewhere were wide-ranging and brought about significant economic benefits to Japan.

Thus, in February 1922, Genzo Jr. was granted the world's first lead suboxide manufacturing patent (Japanese Imperial Patent No. 41728), titled “A Simple Applied Method for Manufacturing Lead Powder.” Seventy-five patents related to lead suboxide and its applications would eventually be granted to Shimadzu in ten countries, including France.

In 1930, Genzo Jr. was selected as one of Japan’s ten greatest inventors for his invention of the reactive lead powder manufacturing method. Selection took place after a review of hundreds of thousands of patents and utility models, and the inventors, including Genzo Jr., were hosted at a banquet at the Imperial Palace in December 1930.

Genzo Jr. pursued his business with the conviction that “If you are taught a theory, you must think of an application. Useless learning is pointless.”

Successful companies that had emerged from the storage battery business

Genzo Jr. decided that shifting the storage battery business to a dedicated company would enhance efficiency, and in January 1917 he founded Japan Storage Battery Co., Ltd., now GS Yuasa Corporation. That same year, Shimadzu Corporation was reorganized as a joint stock company, with Genzo Jr. assuming the post of president.

While the reactive lead powder obtained through Genzo Jr.’s “simple applied method” was a basic material for storage batteries, it also had excellent anti-corrosion properties. Organisms and various substances can adhere to soiling and rust on ship hulls, affecting service life, speed, and fuel efficiency. Rust-preventive paints were developed to solve such problems, and in July 1929, Enpun Toryo Co., Ltd. (today’s Dai Nippon Toryo Co., Ltd.) was born.

In addition, in August 1937, Nippon Yusoki Co., Ltd. (now Mitsubishi Logisnext Co., Ltd.) was established and began to manufacture industrial vehicles equipped with storage batteries. Two years later, in 1939, Nippon Yusoki developed Japan's first battery-powered forklift truck, and became a pioneering manufacturer of cargo-handling vehicles.

Shimadzu enters the specimen and mannequin business

In 1891, under Genzo Sr.’s management, the company began to offer scientific specimens for educational purposes. In 1895, Shimadzu’s Specimen Department was established.

Compared to learning from illustrations and lectures alone, having actual or replica specimens to reference when studying the physiological and anatomical structures of plants, animals, and the human body can greatly aid understanding. As science education expanded from physics and chemistry to geology, minerals, animals, and plants, Shimadzu expanded its line of specimens, which included mounted rare animals and birds, as well as human skeletons, and orders from educational institutions increased dramatically.

In 1925, as they continued to accumulate expertise in the production of scientific specimens, Shimadzu began to manufacture mannequins. That same year, the operations of the Kawaramachi Factory were relocated to the Sanjo Factory, leaving the head office, the sales office, and other facilities in place.

In the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake of September 1923, relief supplies arriving from foreign countries included Western clothing, which led to the popularization of Western styles, boosting demand for mannequins. Shimadzu initially relied on imports from France, but subsequently established a unique manufacturing process based on fiber materials used in its production of specimens. In the late 1930s, Shimadzu’s share of the Japanese market for mannequins exceeded 85%.

When World War 2 ended in 1945, the mannequin business was spun off as Nanasai Craftwork Limited Private Company (now Nanasai Co., Ltd.), while the specimen company became today’s Kyoto Kagaku Co., Ltd. Both companies at the time were managed by Ryozo Shimadzu, the son of Genzo Jr.

Shimadzu’s Electrostatic sensor: a product of Genkichi Shimadzu’s passion

Genzo Jr.’s younger brothers, Genkichi and Tsunesaburo Shimadzu, would also play important roles in the development of Shimadzu Corporation.

Genkichi, born in 1877, and Tsunesaburo, born in 1883, played vital roles in helping Shimadzu develop technologies that were useful to society and products that customers wanted.

While Genzo Jr. was occupied with the development and manufacturing of storage batteries, young Genkichi took the lead in developing other products.

Over the course of his life, Genkichi was awarded 56 patents and utility models. He also conducted experiments in radiography with Genzo Jr., working passionately to upgrade the Wimshurst electrostatic generator and enhance its power generation to ensure it would function reliably in the hands of users. When he finally produced a generator design that satisfied him, he named it the Shimadzu-type sensor electrostatic generator.

At a time, imported generators sold for around 600 yen, but the Shimadzu-type generator could be bought for less than a tenth of the cost (45 yen) even though its performance exceeded that of imported products. The Shimadzu-type generator was acclaimed, garnering a gold medal at the 1914 Taisho Exposition in Tokyo and enhancing the reputation of other Shimadzu products.

In June 1939, Genkichi became Shimadzu Corporation’s second president while Tsunesaburo assumed the post of vice president, and Genzo Jr. became chairman. Together they worked as one to cope with the difficulties of a wartime era.

Tsunesaburo travels abroad to lay the foundation for Shimadzu's global expansion

Tsunesaburo was appointed to manage Shimadzu's Tokyo office in 1906 and was mainly concerned with accounting and sales. At the same time, he was responsible for no small number of technological successes, registering nearly 20 utility models including an X-ray Generator Security Device (1917), an Oil Immersion Tube Holding Device (1925), and a Temperature/Humidity Controller Magnification Rate Changer (1933).

In 1920, shortly after World War I, Tsunesaburo traveled to Europe and the U.S. His mission was to learn more about advanced Western technologies, investigate how they could be applied to Shimadzu's R&D, and help Shimadzu become the exclusive Japan sales representative for manufacturers with advanced technologies. Through his efforts, agreements were signed with ten companies in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Austria, and elsewhere, reinforcing trust in Shimadzu’s products and facilitating its ongoing research and development.

Tsunesaburo did not limit his efforts to Shimadzu alone. He also held several various public positions, including mediator for the Kyoto District Court. He also acted as an advisor for industry, serving in organizations related to electrical machinery, chemical industry equipment, and weighing and measuring instruments.

Genzo Jr., Genkichi, and Tsunesaburo carried on the business and vision created by Genzo Sr. and were dubbed as “the three inventor brothers.” The DNA of taking on challenges and creating the technologies and products the world needs was embodied by the Shimadzu family and has been passed down by employees throughout the ages to be still firmly rooted in Shimadzu today.