Shotaro Ikegai

He was a Japanese industrialist who learned at Tanaka Seisakusho how to repair and reconstruct lathes. So in 1889 he established the Ikegai Factory (the latter Ikegami Tekkosho and present Ikegami Ltd.) and in the same year produced the first domestic lathe. Subsequently he expanded the business and produced machine tools and oil engines. He acquired more than 100 patents and left a trailblazing footprint in Japan’s field of machine tools.

The business grew rapidly, and the small local factory became Japan’s leading machine tool manufacturer of Meiji. By 1913, Ikegai established the Ikegai Ironworks in Honshibairi Yoko-cho. After his death, his son Katsuo assumed his name and became Shotaro II.