Jujiro Matsuda
| Jujiro Matsuda 松田 重次郎 |
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|---|---|
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| Born |
August 8, 1875 Hiroshima, Japan |
| Died |
March 27, 1952 (aged 76) Hiroshima, Japan |
| Occupation | Founder, Mazda Motor Corporation |
Jujiro Matsuda (松田 重次郎 Matsuda Jūjirō?, August 8, 1875 – March 27, 1952) was a Japanese industrialist and businessman who founded automobile manufacturer Mazda Motor Corporation.
The son of a fisherman, Jujiro Matsuda was born in Hiroshima. He was apprenticed to a blacksmith in Osaka at the age of fourteen and invented the "Matsuda-type pump" in 1906. Later, he took over management of the foundry at which he apprenticed and changed the name of the organization to "Matsuda Pump Partnership." He was forced out of his company, but started an armament manufacturer soon after – the eponymously named Matsuda Works. Matsuda would see his fledgling company's fortunes improve when it was commissioned as a supplier to the Tsar of Russia as well as manufacturing the Type 99 rifle for the Japanese military.
By 1921, Jujiro Matsuda was a wealthy man thanks to his previous business ventures. He moved back to Hiroshima when he was asked to take over management of floundering artificial cork manufacturer Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. (東洋コルク工業株式会社 Tōyō Koruku Kōgyō Kabushiki Gaisha?), which was placed into receivership by its creditors when the market for artificial cork dried up following the end of World War I. The unprofitable cork business ceased, and Matsuda focused on tool manufacturing. 1931 oversaw the introduction of the "Mazdago" motorized tricycle, manufactured in what is now Fuchū city and the company, now known as Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. (東洋工業株式会社 Tōyō Kōgyō Kabushiki Gaisha?), would set its focus on motor vehicle manufacturing.
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