Kawasaki History

Kawasaki Shōzō (川崎正蔵) (1837 – 1912) was a Japanese industrialist, and shipbuilder. He founded Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd..
Born in Kagoshima to a kimono merchant, Shozo Kawasaki became a tradesman at the age of 17 in Nagasaki, the only place in Japan then open to the West. He started a shipping business in Osaka at 27, which failed when his cargo ship sank during a storm. In 1869, he joined a company handling sugar from the Ryukyu Islands, established by a Kagoshima samurai, and in 1893, researched Ryukyu sugar and sea routes to the Ryukyus at the request of the Ministry of Finance. In 1894, he was appointed executive vice president of Japan Mail Steam-Powered Shipping Company, and succeeded in opening a sea route to the Ryukyu and transporting sugar to mainland Japan.

Having experienced many sea accidents in his life, Kawasaki deepened his trust in Western ships because they were more spacious, stable and faster than typical Japanese ships. At the same time, he became very interested in the modern shipbuilding industry. In April 1876, supported by Matsukata Masayoshi, the Vice Minister of Finance, who was from the same province as Kawasaki, he established Kawasaki Tsukiji Shipyard on borrowed land from the government alongside the Sumidagawa River, Tsukiji Minami-Iizaka-cho (currently Tsukiji 7-chome, Chūō, Tokyo, a major step forward as a shipbuilder.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. traces its origins to 1876, when Kawasaki Shōzō (川崎正蔵) established Kawasaki Tsukiji Shipyard in Tokyo, Japan. Eighteen years later, in 1896, it was incorporated as Kawasaki Dockyard Co., Ltd.

Kawasaki is a major Japanese manufacturer of ships, locomotives, railway cars, engines, aircraft, motorbikes, and missiles. In 1878, Kawasaki Shozo (1837–1912) founded the Kawasaki organization in Tsukiji in Tokyo as a shipyard. In 1881, the Kawasaki Hyogo shipyard was established in Hyogo, and in 1896 it was merged with the Tsukiji shipyard to form the Kawasaki Shipyard Corporation. The group adopted its present name in 1939 after expanding into the manufacture of locomotives, passenger coaches, freight cars, bridge girders, steel plates, and aircraft.

Kawasaki's production of freighters during World War II was augmented after the war by production of submarines and supertankers. After World War II, Allied Occupation authorities broke up Kawasaki. In 1950, the steel-making division was incorporated separately as the Kawasaki Steel Corporation. Kawasaki Dockyard merged in 1969 with two of its previous subsidiaries, Kawasaki Rolling Stock Manufacturing and Kawasaki Aircraft, to become Kawasaki Heavy Industries, a major corporation. Kawasaki remained until the 1970s one of Japan's leading shipbuilders. The company has constantly developed new technologies through the development and production of automated ships, the development of liquid natural gas (LNG) carriers, and future-oriented marine technologies.

Further Reading

Tsujimoto Yoshiaki. (2001) Kobe wo kakeru: kawasaki shozo to matsukada kojiro (Building Kobe: Shozo Kawasaki and Kojiro Matsukada). Kobe, Japan: Kobe Shimbun Publishing Center.

[Kawasaki memang dikenal sebagai perusahaan pembuat kapal, lokomotive, pesawat, motor dan misil. Tahun 1878 Shozo Kawasaki mendirikan Kawasaki di Tokyo sebagai perusahaan pembuat kapal. Tahun 1881 Kawasaki Hyogo Shipyard, Kawasaki Hyogo Shipyard berdiri di Hyogo, dan di tahun 1896 merger dengan Tsukigi Shipyard dan membentuk Kawasaki Shipyard Corp. Selama Perang Dunia II, Kawasaki memproduksi kapal selam dan supertanker.. !!! Setelah perang Dunia II, pihak Sekutu memisahkan divisi pembuat baja Kawasaki (karena baja tuh industri strategis… heran juga kenapa Krakatau Steel kita mau diprivatisasi.. red.) dan menjadi Kawasaki Steel Corporation. Di tahun 1949, Kawasaki memutuskan untuk memasuki industri motor dengan memproduksi engine motor… !!!

Kawasaki membuat motor 60cc 2 stroke, dan juga 150cc dan 250cc 4 stroke dengan mengadopsi teknologi BMW Jerman, dimana dulunya telah mempunyai kerjasama dengan BMW di bidang industri pesawat terbang. Tahun 1954, Kawasaki Motorcycles memproduksi motor utuh dengan nama Meihatsu. Pada sat yang bersama kawasaki juga memproduksi scooter, namun mereka sadar bahwa agak berat untuk bersaing dengan ‘giant’ industry scooter saat itu Fuji Rabbit dan Mitshubishi Silver Pigeon.

Sejarah Kawasaki Motor sendiri nggak bisa dipisahkan dengan Meguro Motorcycles. Meguro ini di Jepang dikenal sebagai “Senior” dibandingkan Honda, Yamaha dan Suzuki… dan dianggap sebagai “King of Four Stroke”. Meguro memasuki industri motor Jepang di tahun 1937, dan mempunyai hubungan yang baik dengan pemerintah dan menerima order yang banyak terutama untuk kebutuhan militer. Motornya pertama adalah Z97, 500cc rocker-valvez yang dipengaruhi oleh motor Swiss Motosacoche. Motor ini cukup sukses dan terus diproduksi sampai tahun 1950-an. Disamping itu, Meguro juga memproduksi 250cc dan 350cc, single cylinder sebagaimana juga high performance twin cylinderz. Twin Cylinder 650cc dan 500cc pun dibuat… oleh Meguro dan pantaslaagh dianggap sebagai senior.. karena tahun segitu sudah berat-berat.. bikinannya… !!! Naagh di tahun 1960, Meguro diakusisi oleh Kawasaki dan ditahun 1962 menjadi Kawasaki Motorcycles… !!!]