Kawai SK-6LA Grand Piano

As the war ended, Shigeru was disbanded from the troop and soon after he returned home, he was adopted by the Kawai family. At first, Shigeru was just an ordinary worker. He stood in the manufacturing area all day, sometimes slept overnight in the factory. He even bathed with his co-workers, using a drum can as a bathtub. It was an indication of how focused he was on his work, and how much he loved it. Three years later, he would start to learn piano design from his adoptive father, Koichi Kawai, the founder of Kawai. An engineer who was called “Hatsumei Koichi (Koichi the Inventor),” Koichi was the first person in Japan to design and build a complete piano action. He taught Shigeru how to build pianos from scratch. “Pianos are made of wood, so they must be made by hand that is appropriate to the characteristics of each material.” “As long as you are building pianos, you should strive to build the finest ones in the world.” Shigeru paid great attention to Koichi’s every word, but suddenly his adoptive father passed away. Filled with anxiety and despair, Shigeru took over the company. Over the next 35 years, Shigeru pushed himself to develop the company, transforming Kawai in to an industry leader, representative of Japanese quality. When asked about his career, Shigeru would often remark, “Creating pianos is the greatest job I have ever had !” Shigeru Kawai was that kind of a man.

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