Preface: Regarding the Translation of Kaoru
Ishikawa, the Man and Quality Control
As it is stated in the postscript written by Noriaki Kano, the original book Kaoru
Ishikawa, the Man and Quality Control started with a discussion of what kind of bookwould meet with Mrs. Keiko Ishikawa’s desire to capture Dr. Ishikawa’s life to print insuch a way that when his grandchildren grow up, the work could be used to explain
what their grandfather did and then was published by Mrs. Ishikawa in 1993. As it
turned out, this project had a total 172 writers contributing (144 writers from Japan and28 writers from 15 other countries), and we were able to expound on Dr. Ishikawa’s
major activities which resulted in a book of nearly 550 pages. All expenses forpublishing this book were contributed by Ms. Keiko Ishikawa. The first edition of 500
copies printed was presented to the writers and to the libraries of Quality
Management-related organizations in Japan and overseas.
As this book contains not only the personal activities of Dr. Ishikawa, but also
some prospects of the history of Japan’s quality management, everyone concerned hadforeseen at an early stage the necessity of having this book translated into English, butdue to various conditions, we could not set to work on the translation at that time. InDecember 2000, Mrs. Keiko Ishikawa contributed as shown in the below which set inmotion the actual translation process. An operating committee to translate Kaoru
Ishikawa, the Man and Quality Control was established at JUSE, acting as its secretariat,and Mr. Nobuhiko Takamatsu, the former Managing Director of Showa Denko, and oneof Dr. Ishikawa’s disciples (one year senior to Noriaki Kano at the University of Tokyo)
taking on the role of chairman of the committee. At this stage, the following
contribution was received from:Ms. Keiko Ishikawa, Mr. Nobuhiko Takamatsu, ASQ Ishikawa Medal
Founding Celebration
Dr. Noriaki Kano’s Winning Celebration Party of The Deming Prize forIndividuals
and then translation process began. Sadly, as this project was finally set inmotion, Mr. Nobuhiko Takamatsu suddenly passed away (September 30, 2005),
and the attempt at translation suffered a grave setback.

As the year 2015 would mark the 100th year since Dr. Ishikawa’s birth, in1mid-2014, Dr. Hiroshi Osada, a disciple of Dr. Ishikawa, Mr. Ichiro Kotsuka, Managing
Director of JUSE, and Noriaki Kano began discussing how to accomplish the translation
work and created the following framework:
1.
2.

In order to allow the original book to be widely read by those related to quality
management, upload the contents on the JUSE web-site.
By having the original book translated into English, this would allow everyone
concerned about the quality management, including those overseas, to deepen
their understanding of Dr. Ishikawa’s greatest achievements as well as thehistory of Japan’s development of quality management. At the same time, inthis age of globalization, this would leverage Japan’s experiences to thedeveloping countries so that their quality management will further progress.

3.

Organize a series of crown events as a commemorative project to celebrate Dr.
Ishikawa’s 100th birthday.

With this framework in our minds, we consulted with Dr. Hitoshi Kume, Professor
Emeritus of The University of Tokyo, and the eldest among the live disciples of Prof.
Ishikawa, and he graciously accepted the role of the chairman of the organizing
committee. During the consultation, Dr. Kume very generously volunteered to take a
fresh look at Prof. Ishikawa’s writings, and compile something that could be regarded as“these are Dr. Ishikawa’s works.” As for the translation of the original book, it wasagreed that instead of translating all 550 pages, we would be flexible and proceed withthe translation by seeking appropriate individuals to sponsor this work.
Whether a project succeeds or fails depends on whom we invite as the members of
the organizing committee as well as the selection of its chairman. These will be face ofthe project. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda, Honorary
Chairman of Toyota Motors, who is one of the writers for the original book, and despitea rather abrupt request, he willingly agreed to become the member of the organizing
committee with the kind words, “I shall be honored to accept.” As a result, most of themembers that we invited thereafter agreed to become the member of the committee
saying that they felt honored to join the list with Dr. Toyoda.
As for the English translation, as there were companies that held staffs fluent inEnglish, we requested for their cooperation based on the possible pages they cantranslate rather than monetary donation. At last, we received the cooperation from thecompanies and individuals (in some cases, we received monetary contributions, whichwere allotted to translation fees) as per the attached appendix:
As a result, most of the original book was translated into English. We would like to2

deeply thank these sponsoring companies and individuals.
It was necessary to check the appropriateness of the English translation against theoriginal book, as the translation was done by the sponsoring companies and individuals
who were specialists in English but may not be necessarily familiar with theterminology of quality management. Thus, we established the English Quality Securing
Team (EQST), whose participants learned from Prof. Ishikawa’s disciples, and had theteam check the consistency of Japanese and English terminology. Members of theEQST are as per the attached appendix:
As the English translation went through these processes, the English became theso-called Japanglish, which may possibly be hard to read and may not lead to clearunderstanding. Thus, we asked for the brush up of the translation to Mr. Kiran
Deshmukh, the president of the Indian Society for Quality (ISQ), introduced to us by Mr.
Janak Mehta, the chairman of the International Academy for Quality (IAQ). Mr.
Deshmukh organized the English Brush Up Team (EBUT). The members of EBUT are
as per the attached appendix:
All members of EQST and EBUT contributed their share of the work gratuitously.
Another issue that weighed heavily in our minds other than the translation issue
since the publication of the original book was the existence of individuals whom weshould have requested to contribute in the original book, but we overlooked.
Furthermore, it has been 25 years since the passing of Prof. Ishikawa, and there should
be many who were not directly acquainted with Prof. Ishikawa during his lifetime, butwere influenced by Dr. Ishikawa through his writings. A plan has been set in motion torequest that these individuals provide additional contributions, and to issue an enlarged
edition in a timely manner that include these new contributions.
Prof. Kazuyuki Suzuki single-handedly undertook and carried out a whole editorial
work, such as converting the original book into word document, corresponding with thetranslators, the members of EQST and EBUT, and the Web editors, unifying the terms
and references throughout a whole volume. It was due to Prof. Suzuki’s devoted service
that this English version could be published. Also, Mr. Janak Mehta as well as Mr.
Gregory H. Watson have given us numerous advises as English translation editors. Mr.
Ichiro Kotsuka of JUSE had given us extensive support through JUSE. I would like tothank you all from the bottom of my heart.
I feel as if I have been carrying very heavy baggage on my back for more than 20years since the original work was published and for 15 years since the operating3

committee for English translation was organized under Chair Nobuhiko Takamatsu. I
am pleased now because I can see Professor Ishikawa with my head held high at any
time in another world (However, I wish that date is still very far away...)October 3, 2015
Co-EditorDr. Noriaki Kano

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