Not until the end of his life did Sakichi Toyoda start contemplating car production. The small business that Sakichi Toyoda himself founded and built didn’t even cross his mind that it would later evolve into the largest automaker in Japan, the Toyota Group.
Within the traditional quarters of the Toyota Group, alongside the distinguished managers who led the famous Toyota brand such as Kiichiro Toyoda or Eiji Toyoda, Sakichi Toyoda – the founding figure of this conglomerate – is honored with the most prominent position.
When one mentions Japan, electronics and automobiles immediately come to mind – the two leading industries contributing to the renowned “Made in Japan” brand. And heading the automobile sector is none other than the Toyota Group.
By 2005, boasting nearly $180 billion in revenue, Toyota stood alone among Japanese and Asian companies, ranking within the top 10 largest corporations globally. The remarkable business efficiency of Toyota was variously reflected in its enormous profits of $11 billion during the year 2005.
In 1936, after assuming the leadership of the Toyoda company from Sakichi Toyoda, his son Kiichiro Toyoda changed its name to Toyota by replacing the letter “d” with the letter “t” in Toyoda.
Ever since then, the Toyota brand emerged and established itself as one of the paramount symbols and source of pride for every Japanese national. Presently, the Toyota brand solidifies its standing as one of the foremost global brands, valued at tens of billions of dollars.
Sakichi Toyoda – The Talented Carpenter
The Toyota Group owes its existence to the endeavors of Sakichi Toyoda, a highly skilled carpenter hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun. Nowadays, when the name “Toyota” is mentioned, people immediately associate it with automobiles. However, Sakichi Toyoda is best renowned as one of the pioneers who invented Japan’s first modern weaving machine.
Sakichi Toyoda was born on February 14, 1867, in a small village in Yamaguchi prefecture, into a family of impoverished craftsmen. His father was a carpenter, while his mother worked as a weaver. Being a traditional weaving village with a long-standing history, the village where Sakichi Toyoda grew up resounded with the echoes of weaving machines running incessantly. Sakichi Toyoda’s father was an accomplished carpenter who had attained great fame within the village.
Sakichi Toyoda himself inherited his father’s exceptional talent. By the time he reached the age of 10, Sakichi Toyoda already exhibited an ardent passion for carpentry, showcasing remarkable skills in sawing and constructing wooden utensils.
Just like most rural children, he completed his elementary education at an early age and readily embarked on assisting his family. On a daily basis, he aided his father with carpentry work. Whenever a wooden utensil in their household, particularly his mother’s aging weaving machine, broke down, Sakichi Toyoda would single-handedly fix it.
During these repairs, including mending a shuttle or repairing a fractured wooden handle, Sakichi Toyoda gradually acquired knowledge about weaving machines. The more Sakichi Toyoda delved into this field, the more engrossed he became by the principles governing weaving machines. Whenever his mother’s weaving machine malfunctioned, he even crafted a brand-new one for her.
As such, Sakichi Toyoda emerged as a young carpenter specializing in creating wooden weaving machines from a tender age.
Sakichi Toyoda – The Innovator of a Novel Weaving Machine
The late 19th century witnessed a booming economy in Japan under the guidance of enlightened emperors. The open economic policy not only facilitated the transfer of scientific and technological advancements from Western Europe and the United States to Japan but also the influx of various imported goods.
With the wave of industrialization, which entailed the establishment of countless major factories and workshops, the already-challenged impoverished villages – like that of Sakichi Toyoda’s – encountered even greater difficulties. In view of the fact that the products stemming from these villages could not rival their imported counterparts, many people were compelled to abandon their conventional weaving profession. Sakichi Toyoda felt deeply disheartened by this predicament.
Witnessing his mother’s toil with the antiquated weaving loom, Sakichi Toyoda conceived the notion of enhancing it, transforming it into a more efficient and rapid weaving machine. From that moment forth, Sakichi Toyoda rarely pursued his father’s craft but rather devoted himself to researching and designing a newfangled weaving machine for his mother.
Sakichi Toyoda’s father felt profoundly dismayed upon witnessing his son, who possessed immense skill, defy his earnest wishes. His father believed that Sakichi Toyoda would be better off adhering to their family’s conventional occupation, one affording a modest yet secure livelihood. Initially, his father even regarded Sakichi Toyoda as insane or abnormal due to the countless hours he would spend in the warehouse, sawing away at random pieces of wood in an attempt to construct a wooden weaving machine.
Nonetheless, Sakichi Toyoda could not be deterred. Despite possessing no profound knowledge of machines aside from his remarkable carpentry expertise, Sakichi Toyoda tenaciously persevered with his experimentation. Failures never succeeded in crushing Sakichi Toyoda’s spirit.
Until one fateful day in 1890, Sakichi Toyoda triumphantly displayed the first weaving machine he successfully invented. Mostly crafted from wood, this very weaving machine drew an influx of villagers, eager to witness Sakichi Toyoda’s groundbreaking invention. Thanks to this homemade weaving machine, weavers no longer had to continuously shuttle back and forth; the weaving speed had multiplied several times over.
Developing Japan’s first weaving machine demanded an onerous daily grind from Sakichi Toyoda, and he credits much of his perseverance to the image of his indefatigable mother, diligently tending to the primitively-equipped weaving loom. Sakichi Toyoda also added that an essential motivating factor fanning his creativity was his ardent patriotism.
During the era Sakichi Toyoda lived, Europe and the United States were in the throes of extensive industrialization and mechanization. Despite attending an exhibition in Japan, Sakichi Toyoda astutely realized that there were no Japanese-invented machines on display.
Sakichi Toyoda held no significant educational background; nevertheless, he found harboring the notion unacceptable that Japan lacked home-grown machinery. Driven by this sentiment, Sakichi Toyoda fostered aspirations within himself and fellow Japanese nationals to invent innovations. And the prototype weaving machine he so compellingly devised served as testament to his ambitions.
Thao Anh (According to TTTD)
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