About Us

“Start with a bow and end with a bow”
Handing down the culture of martial arts, Meirin Sangyo Co., Ltd.

Throughout the world, Japanese people are considered to be polite and well-mannered.
This is due to their time-honored traditional education in martial arts.

When you enter the dojo hall, take off your shoes, place them neatly with the toes facing outward, and bow.
When you pass in front of others, lower your head to bow slightly.
All these acts are performed by martial arts practitioners, and inspired by their attitude, non-practitioners do the same. That is why Japanese people are said to be polite.

Politeness, perseverance, vigor, and vitality. All of these qualities nurtured through martial arts.
We believe that the flourishing of martial arts across the globe is the foundation for the development of future leaders.

The Origin of Meirin Sangyo

Keitaro Tomano, the Founder of Meirin Sangyo, born in 1911
In his university days, Tomano was awarded the third-dan in kendo (the fifth-dan was the highest level at the time) by Hakudo Nakayama, a well-known master swordsman.
After graduation, assisting his respected teacher, Dr. Tetsuji Morohashi, a recipient of the Order of Cultural Merit, he was engaged in the compilation of the Dai Kanwa Jiten (Comprehensive Chinese-Japanese Character Dictionary).
While working as a Japanese language teacher at a junior high school under the prewar education system, he was drafted and consecutively served as an army captain and an advisor in Shanxi Province, China.

After World War II, in 1953, he founded the company in Osaka, hoping that it would be helpful to nurture young people based on the teachings of master swordsman Hakudo Nakayama.
With the company motto of “Selling kindness rather than selling merchandise,” all employees strive every day to manufacture and sell martial arts equipment and Japanese swords.