VISIONS INNOVATORS AND INNOVATIONS 02 2006
The wizard of invention and the warrior of innovation
A history of technology leadership Toshiba has a proud tradition of achievement. In almost 130 In 1890, Hakunetsusha & Co., Ltd. was established by the years of operation, the company has recorded numerous firsts entrepreneur Ichisuke Fujioka as Japan’s first plant for electric and made many valuable contributions to technology and society. incandescent lamps. Subsequent diversification saw the compa- It is currently the world’s 9th largest integrated manufacturer of ny evolve as a manufacturer of consumer products. In 1899, the electric and electronic equipment, has some 161,000 employees company was renamed Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric Co.). worldwide, and enjoys consolidated annual sales of over US$53 billion. In 1939, these two companies, leaders in their respective fields, merged to form an integrated electric equipment manufacturer, Not surprisingly, Toshiba’s role as a leading innovator and Tokyo Shibaura Denki (Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co., Ltd.). The inventor of technology goes back to its earliest founders in the company was soon well known as ‘Toshiba’. 19th century. In 1875, Tanaka Seizo-sho (Tanaka Engineering Works), Japan’s first manufacturer of telegraphic equipment, was Today, Toshiba’s total commitment to people and to the future, its established. Its founder, Hisashige Tanaka, was well known from determination to help create a higher quality of life for all peo- his youth for inventions that included mechanical dolls and a ple, and its undaunted efforts to help ensure that technological perpetual clock. Under the name Shibaura Seisaku-sho (Shibaura progress continues within the world community finds its origins in Engineering Works), his company became one of Japan’s largest the life stories of Hisashige Tanaka and Ichisuke Fujioka. manufacturers of heavy electrical apparatus. Hisahige Tanaka (1799-1881) was a remarkable man. He was a technology pioneer who came from the rich Japanese tradition of creating karakuri or mechanisms that tease, trick or take a person by surprise. For instance, there is a mechanised tortoise that serves sake by carrying the cup on its back and a bird that chirps while moving its beak, head and wings. The arrow-shooting boy or Yumi-iri Doji is his most famous innovation in this field.
Hisahige’s greatest achievements were made in mechanics, lighting, clock making and telegraphy. Other important inventions included a water pump for fighting fires, a machine for irrigating rice paddies and fields, Japan’s first artificial ice maker, a device called the “keyless lock” and a sophisticated new machine for manufacturing Kurume-gasuri kimono fabric.
Hisahige not only invented his own devices, he also developed and adapted new, imported technologies such as air pressure, steam engines and telegraphs. This great inventor was one of the grandfathers of Japanese technological innovation. He employed and mentored engineers who went on to found major Japanese technology companies such as Oki Denki (Oki Electric) and Anritsu.
The company which he founded in 1875, Tanaka Seisakusho, was established to support Japan’s growing telegraph network. The company continued after his death and, following a name change in 1904 and a merger in 1939, what started out as Tanaka Seisakusho became one half of Tokyo Shibaura Denki. Since 1978, Tokyo Shibaura Denki has been known as Toshiba.
1. Man-nen Jimeisho (chronometer) 2. Hoji-ki (time signal instrument) belongs to the collection of the Communications Museum 3. Toro Ningyo (puppet) (photo courtesy of the Yame City Board of Education) 4. Mujin-to (brilliant, long-burning oil lamps); the left lamp is in the Collection of the Toshiba Science Museum while the centre and right lamps belong to the collection of the Saga Prefectural Museum 5. Detail from the Man-nen Jimeisho
The wizard of invention and the warrior of innovation Date Name of invention Description Benefit
1820 Mechanical dolls, The Yumi-iri Doji is considered The Yumi-iri Doji is particu- particularly the Yumi-iri Doji Hisahige Tanaka’s mechanical larly interesting because it is masterpiece. It is a figure of an designed to display human archer who draws four arrows characteristics. This early from a holder and fires them at robot was designed to a target. Three of the arrows hit be sympathetic and appealing perfectly but one misses. The to humans. figure displays disappointment when the arrow misses.
1834-1837 Kaichu Shokudai, a A candle holder which was This candle holder was the portable candle holder small, easily carried and made pocket torch of its day. It was of rust-resistant brass. perfect for visiting or travelling after dark.
1834-1837 Mujin-to, a rapeseed-oil An improved oil lamp which The lamp allowed people to lamp used a compressed air fuel- work longer in the ling system. Hisahige had evening and also saved learned about air compression money because the oil burned by studying and replicating a more efficiently. It was ten Dutch airgun. Hisahige eventu- times brighter than a con- ally produced seven different ventional candle and came types of the lamp to cater for with a glass cover to prevent every taste and requirement. flickering.
1850-1851 Man-nen Jimeisho, a This magnificent clock is 60 Beautiful and comprehensive, traditional Japanese-style cm tall. It weighs 38 kg and it is a true masterpiece of the clock has six different clocks built clockmaker’s art. into six different faces, which show the hour, date and season, day of the week and the lunar calendar. There is a map of Japan and a planetarium on the top of the clock.
The wizard of invention and the warrior of innovation Ichisuke Fujioka (1857-1918) was an entrepreneur with a brilliant academic background. The son of a samurai, he was one of the first graduates of the Kogakuryo (the Imperial College of Engineering) to join the faculty as a professor. Electricity was his passion, but a meeting with Thomas Edison in America in 1884 had made him realize that delivering electric power supply was not enough.
He also needed to produce and sell the appliances that ran on electricity. He returned to Tokyo and, in 1885, he designed the first locally built electric generator before leaving academic research to work in industry. In 1890, he launched a company called Hakunetsusha and began serious work on the manufacture of light bulbs.
Ichisuke Fujioka was an influential man. He is credited with advising the textile manufacturer Osaka Boseki to install electric lights. This enabled them to operate a night shift and boost productivity.
The principles of innovation that he laid down for his company included a strong commitment to research and development. By 1940, the research department had made two key advances in light bulb technology: the dual filament bulb and the frosted bulb, both of which were copied throughout the world. Hakunetsusha changed its name and form until it merged with Hisahige Tanaka’s company in 1939 to become Tokyo Shibaura Denki. Since 1978, Tokyo Shibaura Denki has been known as Toshiba.
1. Inspired by Edison, Ichisuke was a pioneer ot the incandescent light bulb 2. Japan’s first electic train on display at the Third National Industrial Exposition with Ichisuke standing next to the driver’s cab (photo courtesy of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc., Electric Power Historical Museum) 3. Mazada Lamps 4. Picture of the Ryounkaka, Japan’s first high-rise building and electric elevator (photo courtesy of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc., Electric Power Historical Museum)
The wizard of invention and the warrior of innovation Date Name of invention Description Benefit
1878 Japan’s first arc lamp Under the supervision of his An arc lamp makes use of professor, the world expert an electric arc between two William Ayrton, Ichisuke turned carbon electrodes to gener- on the first Japanese built arc ate light. The resulting light is lamp. extremely brilliant, so it can be used for spotlights.
1885 Japan’s first locally built The locally designed and built The generator not only dem- electricity generator generator was used to demon- onstrated that such machines strate incandescent light bulbs could be made in Japan but for the first time in Japan. also brought together Ichisuke and Miyoshi Shoichi, a pro- tégée of Hisahige and future colleague in Hanuketsusha.
1890 Japan’s first electric Housed in Japan’s first west- Although the elevator was elevator ern-style ‘skyscraper’ called only in operation for a brief the Ryounkaku (translates period, it served as a wonder literally as “Cloud-Surpassing of science and attracted huge Pavilion” or “Cloud-Surpass- crowds. ing Tower”), the elevator ran from the first to eighth floors. The tower itself was 68.58 meters tall.
1890 Japan’s first electric train The train ran as part of the These early demonstrations Third National Industrial led to the 1895 creation of Exposition. Japan’s first electric railway, the Kyoto Electric Railway whose service was operated under Ichisuke’s direction.
Sources and further reading
Technology and Industrial Development in Japan: Building Capabilities by Learning, Innovation, and Public Policy, Akira Goto, Hiroyuki Odagiri; Clarendon Press, 1996
Networks, Markets, and the Pacific Rim: Studies in Strategy, W. Mark Fruin; Oxford University Press, 1998.
The wizard of invention and the warrior of innovation
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