History

Minoru's father passed away in the war and left Minoru a single woodworking motor which he had received from his mother. Minoru began producing wooden corks for sake bottles and wooden fishing floats. Salmon fishing was extremely popular and business grew.

With fishing nets changing from wood to nylon and floats switching from wood to plastic, Minoru's business started to come under threat. He believed his business was becoming outdated and was falling behind technology, and so he needed to launch something new. He travelled throughout Japan to look for new ideas and alternative ways of doing things. Coming from a small, remote provincial town, he wanted to bring his experiences and fine woodwork skills to the larger city, and began looking for any business opportunities that showed potential.

Minoru focused on an imported sport that was growing fast post-war -- badminton. Growing up in a cold country town, he also wanted to focus on a sport that was something people could play indoors. Making daily visits to Japanese racquet producer Sanbata, he negotiated a deal to be the company's official equipment manufacturer (OEM) and so became Sanbata's subcontractor. The first steps into the badminton market.

Minoru's racquets were widely praised for their quality and the Yoneyama Company Ltd. had begun moving up to mid-class products as the world started to learn about Yoneyama products.

Despite raising capital funds with the aim of setting up an automated factory, parent company Sanbata goes bankrupt. Faced with the devastating prospect of another bankruptcy, Minoru decided to enter the market independently as the Yoneyama brand. After direct talks and hard negotiations Minoru gained clients and was able to launch the Yoneyama brand.

To boost exports, Minoru starts a new company that is dedicated to trading overseas.

Despite the destruction of the factory in the fire, it took just three days to rebuild it. Within a week the factory was again shipping out new products. This was a PR success - the company gained immense trust and goodwill from customers and rapidly became the No. 1 company in Japan for badminton.

Silver Gray - the No. 2 badminton racquet maker in the world at the time - sign Yoneyama Company, Ltd. as their exclusive distributor.

Yoneyama Company, Ltd. continued to make good progress and increasing sales led to them becoming the No. 1 brand in Japan. However, cheap foreign racquets began to make their way onto store shelves and compete.

The company decided to develop their own competition racquets and the overseas market was primed for expansion. Minoru noticed that compared to traditional Japanese racquets made of wood, foreign racquets had frames and shafts made from steel - Minoru demanded a change. After returning home he set about developing his own racquets that would match the performance of an English racquet.

To identify itself as a sports company, the company changed its name.

The company boosted shuttlecock production.

Taking a cue from a gas tap design, the company started to develop the T-joint which joins frame and shaft. Complete with new T-joint, the company created Japan's first aluminium badminton racquet.

The company started to produce tennis racquets.

While the aluminium T-7000 tennis racquet was popular in the west, the design did not allow for a westerner's strength. Subsequently the racquets suffered a series of breakages.

To prevent racquet breakages in models like the T-7000, the OPS shaft system is developed. Just three months after broken racquet reports, the company released the new and improved product.