Part 2: Brother in the Beginning
Brother Company - like the WCS - orginated from the central Japan area and was a strong support in promoting the event with the build up to the Aichi Expo in 2005. This relationship continues to this day with eyes set on the Expo in Shanghai in 2010.
The company was started in the early 1900s repairing sewing machines and during our tour last year during WCS 2006 we saw something very facinating, a straw hat press. I would like to look at the early years of the company and what role the hat press played in the early days of the company. Below is the company history until the creation of the first domestic sewing machine made in Japan. (From the Brother website):
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Yasui Sewing Machine Co., a company that sold and repaired sewing machines, was established in 1908 by Kanekichi Yasui, the father of the founders of Brother Industries, Ltd.
Masayoshi Yasui, the eldest of ten children, began working and helping his father at the age of nine, thereby acquiring sewing machine repair skills at a very young age. At the age of 17, Masayoshi began working as an apprentice in Osaka, which at that time was the heart of Japan’s sewing machine industry. Having witnessed the sewing machine market being dominated by imported products, Masayoshi felt strongly the need to produce sewing machines domestically. He was determined to “develop this import-based sewing machine industry into an export-based industry.”
At that time it was considered impossible to produce sewing machines in Japan, due to a lack of production facilities and advanced processing technologies. However, Masayoshi’s resolution never wavered; to obtain funds for sewing machine production, he developed and sold hydraulic presses for producing straw hats. He also embarked on research activities focused on his ambition for sewing machine production in Japan. His initial success motivated him to pursue other development initiatives, including an ambitious effort to produce the country’s first domestic sewing machine. In 1928 he succeeded in the development of the “Sho-san-shiki” chain-stitch sewing machine, which was more durable than imported machines.
Jitsuichi Yasui, Masayoshi’s younger brother and co-founder of Brother, succeeded in the development of shuttle hooks, which are main components of the sewing machine. Very few believed they would succeed, however, and it was only through determination and a seemingly endless ability to overcome adversity that the Yasui brothers succeeded in 1932 with the introduction of the first domestic sewing machine ever made entirely in Japan.
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You can see that the straw hat press machine was made by Brother before the first sewing machine was created. People may wonder what the connection is between a straw hat and sewing fabric but if you take a close look at a straw hat made in Japan it is actually one continuous thread of woven straw. Here are some pictures of the machine and an early sewing machine:
I don't think that Brother still makes straw hats and in Part 3 we will take a look at another discontinued branch of the company that demonstrates the adventurous character that can be found in companies in Japan; the motor bike.
Tour of Brother Part 3: Brothers Bikes and the Ise-wan Typhoon
