1900

The era of our founding

Edoardo Chiossone
Erhört letterpress copper plate

In the 1880s, Edoardo Chiossone, a foreign technical advisor at the Ministry of Finance’s Printing Bureau (now the National Printing Bureau), trained many new engineers and contributed greatly to advances in Japan’s banknote printing technology, including fine-line engraver operation, the Erhört letterpress method, and watermark printing plate production.

Two engineers, Enkichi Kimura and Ginjiro Furuya, who learned the latest printing technologies under Chiossone and later founded Toppan Printing, thought of ways to further develop Japan’s printing industry based on the most advanced printing technology at that time, the Erhört letterpress. However, entering that business proved a very difficult endeavor as demand was weak for securities and other high-end printed items for which orders were expected due to an economic recession.

1908

Reorganization as Toppan Printing CO., LTD.

In 1908, Toppan Printing Limited Partnership doubled its capitalization to 400,000 yen, reorganized and restarted as Toppan Printing CO., LTD. What differed from the articles of incorporation of the original limited partnership company was the addition of “binding and sale of movable type casts” to prepress and printing by copper letterpress, copper steel engraving, lithograph, aluminum plate and applied photography plate. This reflects the fact that the company was targeting the field of letterpress printing in step with the increasing standard of living of the Japanese people, the advancement of culture, and the rapid advance of publishers.

1917

Advent and introduction of offset printing presses

Gennojo Inoue commuted by bicycle

In 1908, Max Schmidt, president of the Schmidt Lithograph Company in San Francisco, introduced the offset printing press to Japan. This development increased the momentum of offset printing research led by the Ministry of Finance’s Printing Bureau.

In 1911, Gennojo Inoue, the manager of Toppan who saw the future potential of the new technology before others, drafted a detailed plan proposing the introduction of offset printing presses to Toppan executives. However, as the company was experiencing financial difficulties at the time, the president, Tatsutaro Kawai, and other executives did not approve it.

Harris-made offset web press used at Offset Printing

Refusing to give up, Inoue assembled others in the company who understood offset printing and established a limited partnership called Offset Printing in 1913 equipped with the cutting-edge offset printing press. The products made by that company had superior workmanship and the astounding speed of cutting-edge offset printing enhanced its reputation, contributing to the steady growth of the company.

Before long, a great number of people at Toppan began leaning towards a merger with Offset Printing and, in 1917, an extraordinary meeting of shareholders resolved to acquire that company.

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