Kawai

Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Native name	株式会社河合楽器製作所
Romanized name	Kabushiki-gaisha Kawai Gakki Seisakusho
Type	Public (K.K.)
Traded as	:
Industry	Musical instruments
Founded	August 1927
Founder	Koichi Kawai
Headquarters	Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Shigeru, Kawai - Hirotaka Kawai
Products	Grand pianos and upright pianos
Revenue	$1,000,000,000 annual sales
Number of employees	2,868 (2016)
Website	kawai.co.jp

Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (株式会社河合楽器製作所, Kabushiki-gaisha Kawai Gakki Seisakusho^?, TYO: 7952) is a musical instruments manufacturing company headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. It is best known for its grand pianos, upright pianos, electronic keyboards and electronic synthesizers.The company was established in August 1927.

Koichi Kawai, the company founder, was born in Hamamatsu, Japan in 1886. As the son of a wagon maker, Kawai developed an ability to create mechanical devices and inventions as young boy. His neighbor, Torakusu Yamaha, a watchmaker and reed organ builder, noticed Koichi riding past on a unique pedal-driven cart he built himself. Impressed, Yamaha, who was struggling to build his first upright pianos, took the early-teenager in as an apprentice. While just a young man, he became a key member of the research and development team that first introduced pianos to his country. He proved to be a gifted inventor who became the first to design and build a complete piano action in Japan. He was awarded many patents for his designs and inventions.

In the 1920s, the piano industry faltered in Japan. New management took over control of Yamaha's company, Nippon Gakki Co. (later renamed the Yamaha Corporation) and began to diversify its production line. In 1927, Koichi Kawai left Nippon Gakki and founded the Kawai Musical Instrument Research Laboratory along with seven like-minded colleagues. In the early days, the only thing that supported them was their passion for music and desire to produce superior pianos.

After Koichi Kawai's death in 1955, Shigeru Kawai became company president at 33. He was determined to remain true to his father's ideals. He foresaw rapid growth in the music industry and planned accordingly, expanding production facilities and establishing a number of music organizations. In 1980, he opened the Ryuyo Grand Piano Factory. Later, he introduced the Shigeru Kawai Grand Piano line, which he described as "his personal legacy to the piano world." Shigeru Kawai was president of the Kawai company from 1955 to 1989, chairman from 1990 until 2002, and a company consultant until his death in 2006 at 84.