The History of Kawai Pianos

The amazing quality of Kawai pianos stems fromThough the war officially ended in 1945, the
the careful dedication of the company toJapanese struggled to get back on their feet
maintaining the impressive sound. It's a sound thatafter devastating losses and it wasn't until three
has been described as a blanket ofyears later that Kawai Musical Instruments
velvet...something that one really must experienceManufacturing, Ltd. was able to return to the
personally in order to understand.production of musical instruments. It didn't take
In the Beginninglong for the business to recover and soon they
Koichi Kawai started the Kawai Musical Instrumenthad over 500 employees and were producing
Research Laboratory with several other men1,500 pianos per year.
back in 1927. As a pre-teen, Kawai had beenKawai developed and built his first concert piano,
recruited by Torakusu Yamaha as apprentice inwhich won the Blue Ribbon Medal of Honor. Just
his piano workshop. The young man worked hardtwo years later, Koichi Kawai passed away and
and was a key factor in the production of manyhis son, Shigeru, took over the company, which
award-winning pianos by Nippon Gakki Co.,was now incorporated. He turned the family
founded by Yamaha.business into something more modern by updating
Kawai decided to work on his own projects yearscertain techniques and combining the original
later, after Yamaha had passed on and thehandcrafted quality with faster, more modern
company was in trouble due to a difficultproduction.
economy. He took 7 co-workers with him and theA Whole New World
eight of them formed the new lab.The younger Kawai was as much an
Kawai's goal was to create a better piano and hisentrepreneur as his father and pushed hard to
first success was the creation of the very firstgrow the company. Once the supply outgrew the
piano action in Japan. This allowed him to builddemand, he came up with a novel idea to
cheaper pianos, now that it was no longerpromote sales and started the Kawai Academy
necessary to import the actions. Within a year,of Music to train teachers who were then
the lab began to turn out upright pianos and thendispatched to teach in Kawai Music Schools across
a grand piano.the country. Door to door sales helped boost the
A Name Change and Expansiondemand for their pianos, as well.
In 1929, just two years after the lab had beenHe also set up the Kawai Piano Technical Center
founded, the name was changed to Kawai Musicalto turn out trained piano technicians to provide
Instruments Manufacturing Co. and the businessmaintenance of purchased instruments. Within a
underwent several changes over the followingfew more years, the company even had its own
years, including becoming a partnership ventureretail stores that sold pianos and also provided
and yet another name change, to Kawai Musicaltuning and repair services. Kawai Musical
Instruments Manufacturing Ltd.Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd. moved into
1930 saw the expansion of the company as theyAmerica in 1969 and was soon established there,
began to produce reed organs. But change wasas well.
on the horizon.1989 saw a third generation take control of the
Pausing for Warcompany and Kawai Pianos are still some of the
Like many production factories during World Warmost popular musical instruments in the world.
II, Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing, Ltd.The company continues to produce top quality
left off making pianos during the war to produceproducts and expand into new areas of
much needed aircraft parts for the war effort.development on a continual basis.