Company history１００年の歴史

Company history

1906 Eitaro Kitano founds Minamoto-no-Muramitsu in the Nihonbashi area.
At time of establishment, the company manufactured cutting tools to extract rubber sap and knives to cut rope.
Soon after the War, second-generation leader, Shoji Kitano, moves the company from the Nihonbashi area to “4-4-19 Ikuno-higashi, Ikuno-ku, Osaka City”.
December, 1950 Minamoto-no-Muramitsu Kita-no-Hamono Co., LTD. is established.
Second-generation leader, Shoji Kitano, is appointed representative director. Butcher’s knives for professional users are manufactured.
1960 The company improves a leather tanning instrument for coating. This is to be later used as a leather skiving knife.
*This is because knives at that time were too sharp.
Manufactured entirely in steel, this product is a big hit all over Japan.
June, 1960 Third-generation leader, Shuji Kitano, is appointed representative director. Making improvements to the conventional leather skiving knife, the “Y-shaped leather skiving knife” is born.
1965 Company starts producing metallic spatulas for interior decorating.
1922 The company introduces the world’s only ground spatula molding machine to cut costs.
June, 2001 The fourth-generation and current leader, Tomohiro Kitano, is appointed representative director.
March, 2006 A ground spatula for cutting is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3122234).
April, 2009 A putty spatula is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3151825).
A smoothing brush is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3151826).
December, 2011 Storage case for spatulas is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3172615).
August, 2012 Chinese plant gets ready to start operations.
October, 2012 Operations get underway at Chinese plant.
August, 2014 Operations begin at No. 2 plant.
December, 2015 Head office is relocated to 2-8-12 Kishidado-nishi, Higashi-Osaka shi, Osaka Prefecture.
September, 2016 Ultra-precise surface grinder is introduced.
October, 2016 Coupling handle ground spatula is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3207526).
2017 Company is awarded the “Osaka Manufacturing Excellent Company Award 2017”
December, 2018 The doubled-ended putty spatula is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3219765).
January, 2019 NC router is introduced.
June, 2019 Z-shaped ground spatula is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3222001).
September, 2019 Numata-type joint ruler is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3223330).
September, 2019 L-shaped ground spatula is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3223331).
October, 2019 Introduction of hybrid laser engraving machine.
November, 2019 “Minamoto-no-Muramitsu” is registered as a trademark (registration No. 6196842).
July, 2020 New wallpaper smoothing brush is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3227614).
July, 2020 Wallpaper roller (combination/sand) is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3228685).
July, 2020 Fiber tap cutter is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3228686).
July, 2020 Round can spout is registered as a utility model (registration No. 3228687).
2020 “Business Innovation Plan” is approved by the Governor of Osaka Prefecture, Hirofumi Yoshimura.
2020 We are selected for overseas expansion support by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).
November, 2020 Part of our website is translated into English from Japanese.