My ancestors left me with the maxim that I value and cherish :

Accumulation of good deeds will bring happiness to the household.

My parents were indeed people of good deeds.

"Teijiro KUROSAWA SPEECH"

1875

　 The ancestors of Teijiro Kurosawa lived in Mito. Keisuke, Teijiro’s father moved to Nihonbashi in Tokyo during the last turbulent days of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

 Keisuke married Tomeh, who was born and raised in Fukagawa, Tokyo. Teijiro was born on January 5, 1875 as the first child of Keisuke and Tomeh.

  Tomeh died when Teijiro was only 7 and a half years old. Teijiro was sent out to an apprenticeship to a wholesale shop dealing in medicine when he was 10 years old.

　 Twice a year, staff at the shop got special bonuses of 20 sen before New Year and summer holidays. Teijiro knew that there would be a time when English language skills were required, and he bought English text books with the bonus. He also bought a small oil lamp. Every night after work, he would light the oil lamp and study. He would write words and phrases on his arm to recite and learn while making rounds of doctors’offices pushing the cart of medicine.

(Excerpt from CONDOLENCE SPEECH by Mr. Kanji Nakamura)

　 After so many years as an apprentice, when it became time to be promoted as a shop manager, it was a common practice in Japan for the shop owner to give a formal attire of Japanese kimono to the apprentice. It was not Teijiro's wish to be just the manager of the shop. Teijiro asked that the shop owner would give the money instead, and he used the money to visit the U.S.

(Excerpt from CONDOLENCE SPEECH by Mr. Kanji Nakamura)

1893

 Teijiro took the boat to the U.S. when he was 18 years old. He landed at Seattle.

　 among adults during the day, I earned one-dollar silver coin, but I soon found that this was not enough to do what I wanted. Prices were high and a silver coin vanished quickly. I thought about what I could do. To earn extra money, I decided to work at night as well fighting off fatigue from the day job.

 During the day, I worked canning salmon. Back then, it was very tiring work. At night, I unloaded salmon used for canning from the boat. Nowadays, you use a crane and other machine to unload but back then, you needed to unload salmon one by one from the boat. It was back-breaking work. After long hours of work, I returned to my little room to rest. As I sat down on my bed, I used to hear the clock strike 12:00 midnight. It was hard work and was not easy but I did not mind since I knew I was approaching my dream day by day.

(Excerpt from "My Village)

1896

　 Right after landing at the Pacific coast, Teijiro made a living digging potatoes. He then learned that he would make more money fishing salmon. He went north and made small savings fishing.

 At the time, railway companies started to run special campaigns to lure people to visit New York. The ticket was 25 dollars. Teijiro boarded the train and headed towards New York.

Teijiro was employed at Elliott & Hatch Book Typewriter.

 In New York, Teijiro started to work for Mr. Elliott's household doing house chores. After about one year, Mr. Elliott, who owned the typewriter factory, offered to send Teijiro to school. Teijiro instead asked that he would be employed at Mr. Elliott's typewriter factory.

1899

 Teijiro invented Hiragana (Japanese character) typewriter.

　 If both small and capital letters are counted separately, the number of English alphabets and that of Japanese kana characters are similar. You might therefore think that by replacing alphabets on the keys with kana characters, you would have a Japanese kana typewriter.

 However, it was not that simple. At the time in Japan, the text was only written vertically, top to down, and right to left. Teijiro came up with the idea of tilting the letters on the key by 90 degrees and having it typed on the paper placed widthwise. The same technology is now used in the Japanese word processor. (Excerpt from Kurosawa Story)

At the time, typewriters had just started to be put into practical use in the U.S.. I saw how children in the U.S. were learning quickly because their characters (alphabets) were simple and easy to learn. I felt strongly that Japan should stop using Chinese characters and just use "kana" characters. This thought prompted me to go into typewriter business. In 1896 while in New York, I started to work on a prototype at the Elliott & Hatch plant. Finally at the end of 1898, the prototype was completed. Since I did not think of using it for telegraphy at the time, the prototype used "hira-gana" characters (and not "kata-kana" characters). The Jiji Shinpo newspaper dated September 3, 1899 reported the invention of a hira-gana typewriter. ("History of Typewriter" by Teijiro Kurosawa)

Typewriters are used widely in Europe and the U.S. With the typewriter, you can write fast and clearly. The typed text is easy to read. There will be no illegible scribbles. There are so many benefits using the typewriter. I strongly believe that the typewriter is indispensable for cultural advancement of Japan. I developed a Japanese character typewriter. I will be most happy if you would take a look at it and introduce it to your friends.                                (Typewritten letter to Mr. Shinpachi Konishi, Headmaster of Tokyo School for the Blind dated August 9, 1899)

1901

 In February of 1901, Teijiro successfully completed a prototype of katakana typewriter which typed vertically.

　 I showed the prototype to Mr. Kohei Oiwa, senior engineer of the Communications Ministry in July, 1900. He seemed to be very impressed and encouraged me to continue to work on it.

 He also advised me to make a katakana typewriter. The katakana typewriter was completed 6 months later. (History by TK)

1901

 In June, Teijiro returned to Japan with about ten Elliott & Hatch Book typewriters and the exclusive agency agreement to sell Elliott & Hatch typewriters in Japan.

 He founded Kurosawa Company and opened the office at Kyobashi Yazaemoncho (now known as Namiki-dori, 4-2 Ginza, Tokyo).

For merchants, “making money” only comes in the second. What comes at the top is “community service”. (Motto by TK)

 At the beginning, Teijiro worked as the shop owner and as staff as well. He used empty wooden boxes as desks and chairs. He used the money he saved to purchase a desk-top lathe turning machine. His motto was to provide the very best maintenance and support to his customers. The lathe turning machine is still stored at the Kurosawa Building in Ginza.

Merchants’responsibility does not end when the machine is delivered and money is paid. I will assume the full responsibility for the machine I sell. If there is any defect in the machine that I sell, I will compensate with my entire property if necessary.(Motto by TK)

1906-1907

  Teijiro acquired a property at Ginza Dori (2-1 Owaricho now known as 6-9-2 Ginza). The temporary store was opened at nearby Owaricho 2-2-3