Preface
Time has flown by and the fourth anniversary of the esteemed Dr. Kaoru
Ishikawa’s departure on April 16, 1989 has now passed.
As is well known, Dr. Ishikawa was active in various roles such as university
researcher, educator, and president as well as promoter of quality control (QC),sampling, and industrial standardization. Above all, Dr. Ishikawa made great andoriginal contributions in the establishment of Japanese-style quality control, QC Circle
activity, bulk material sampling, and the control chart method. Through these works, Dr.
Ishikawa left his footprints not only in Japan but also in many other countries in theworld. It is no exaggeration to say that Dr. Ishikawa’s work in quality control is virtually
the history of the development of quality control in Japan after the Second World War.
Today, as we take a fresh look of Dr. Ishikawa’s life, we continue to be astonishedby his greatness. This awareness reminds those of us who follow Dr. Ishikawa’s
footsteps that we have a heavy responsibility to continue and make further progress on
his legacy.
About six months after Mrs. Keiko Ishikawa was widowed, she expressed herdesire to capture Dr. Ishikawa’s life in print in such a way that when his grandchildren
grow up, the work could be used to explain what their grandfather did. Dr. Ishikawa’sstudents, who were privileged to receive his direct guidance on dissertation and otherstudies, responded to her wish and gathered together for a consultation. The conclusion
was reached that with the cooperation of many who were connected with Dr. Ishikawa,
we would organize Dr. Ishikawa’s lifetime achievements and publish a book of hismemories. Such a book will serve us, Dr. Ishikawa’s disciples, as a means by which toremember him and will provide the society of quality control with valuable referencematerial. We established the aims of the book as follows:(1) To outline Dr. Ishikawa’s broad and deep achievements and to study theimpact that he had on today’s quality control in Japan and the world.
(2) To reconstruct Dr. Ishikawa’s life by asking many people from many fields towrite their memories of him.
(3) To include Dr. Ishikawa’s chronological history and publications in anappendix so that the book may be used as accurate reference material on
quality control in Japan.
(4) By reflecting Dr. Ishikawa’s own personality, to avoid formality and to writeand edit the book in a relaxed manner.

Preface

To capture Dr. Ishikawa’s broad activities from an objective point of view, werequested the cooperation of many people. In all, 172 people responded to our request towrite their memories of Dr. Ishikawa. From overseas, including Dr. W. Edwards
Deming and Dr. J. M. Juran, 28 people from 15 nations, regions, and organization
articles.
This book is organized into four parts:
Part I: Farewell to Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa
Part II: “Human Beings are Human Beings.”Kaoru Ishikawa as a Common Man
Part III: Accomplishments of Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa
Part IV: Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us
Part I reports on Dr. Ishikawa’s funeral and the memorial writings about him thatappeared in newspapers and magazines at home and abroad.
Before many people’s contributions had arrived, the original plan of the book wasfocused heavily on Dr. Ishikawa’s work and did not include a section equivalent to Part
II. However, while organizing what was sent to us, we discovered that a great many
people had alluded to Dr. Ishikawa’s personality. Therefore, the plan was quickly altered
to include Part II.
By using many people’s condensed comments about Dr. Ishikawa as data, astatistical analysis was conducted. It was very interesting to find that despite thediversity of the contributors―university professors; company executive, managers, andemployees; personnel in QC related organizations; his friends and students; andoverseas people―the comments on Dr. Ishikawa’s personality were very similar. This
must be a manifestation of Dr. Ishikawa’s often expressed philosophy that “humanbeings are human beings.” He openheartedly treated everyone who came in contact withhim.
Many people’s impressions of Dr. Ishikawa were summarized as “a man of large
caliber who had a broad mind and spoke frankly,” “magnanimous and caring,” and “aman of action―a bulldozer with a computer.” While he was very busy at work, heenjoyed playing golf, drinking, and smoking and had a variety of hobbies such as
driving, photography, and mahjongg. Even after having completed this book of “KaoruIshikawa, The Man and Quality Control,” we are still puzzled at how he managed histime to do all of these things. Indeed, his life was super active. In the postscript of thisbook Mrs. Ishikawa writes, “The man who lived his life many times over.” We believethat this is the most appropriate expression to describe Dr. Ishikawa’s life.
Part III outlines Dr. Ishikawa’s work in the categories of university, quality control,iv

Preface

QC education, QC circle activities, international activities, sampling method, andindustrial and international standardization. The articles contributed by people in many
fields are included in their respective sections.
By organizing Dr. Ishikawa’s publications and sayings, which are the results of hisenormous studies, Part IV presents the messages that he left with us.
Finally, the appendix provides Dr. Ishikawa’s chronological history andpublications corresponding to the events in the society of quality control. An effort wasmade to cover everything and to confirm the accuracy of the information. As a result,
this editorial effort has taken more time to arrive at this final stage of publication than
was originally expected.
Our deep appreciation go to all those who collaborated for the publication of thisbook. May Dr. Ishikawa’s soul rest in peace.
Masumasa Imaizumi
Chairman, The Editorial Committee of Dr. Ishikawa’s Memoriesv