The Spirit of the Establishment of Kujiraoka
Hyoei Kujiraoka, Founder & President
1. The Sovereign Spirit
I am from a family of the warrior class in Fukushima Prefecture.
Due to the Meiji Restoration, my grandfather renounced thewarrior and began a sake brewer as he liked liquor so much. But
as the production could not meet the demands of drinking, nobusiness was made. In such a case, my student life was quite
miserable. Going to Tokyo, I entered the Kuramae Technical HighSchool, which is now the Tokyo Institute of Technology. I studied
in the daytime and worked as a part-timer at night. When people
were sleeping, I had to do the track repair or the plumbing. Therefore, I dozed by all means
when going to school in the daytime. My teacher warmed me of it, asking me about thereason. Sympathizing about my life condition, the teacher recommended me to a young
baron as a private teacher. When I was about to graduate from the high school, I got achance to work for a great company, which was one of the biggest in Japan and the young
baron was one of its major shareholders. It was very hard to get a job in a company like thisbut I refused. I would let you know why I refused such a nice opportunity but it would turnto a long and old story. One should be his own master. Only the person who has suffered
can accomplish great cause. I donʼt feel like asking for a favor. The cause of our company isjust based on the spirit, which I would like you to know about in the first place. But thedependency of the company managers in Japan is so strong that when the company
management just becomes a little hard, they turn to the bank for the loan at once. The citybank relies on the Bank of Japan and the Bank of Japan on the Ministry of Finance. I am
always warning of such things. Our companyʼs policy comes from the spirit ofindependence, which is exactly as what I have been emphasizing.
（To be continued）1/3

4. Concentrating on Studies
I would like to repeat here the motivation of the development of the cement sack. The Great
Kanto Earthquake almost had the whole Tokyo burned down. The restoration required
non-combustible materials, which led to the great increase of the demand of cement. But thecost of the local product could not be competitive against the imported cement. On theother hand, the container cost for cement was also a big barrier as cement had been
removed in wooden barrels. Therefore, I began to find a way to make use of another kind ofcontainer that should be more economic and practical. Otherwise, it would become a great
problem influencing not only the cement industry in Japan but also the interest of thecountry. At first, I had thought of using the gunnysack. Now, through the period of time ofusing both the gunnysack and the paper sack, it has come to the completion of the form of
the paper sack like today. During this period, due to the problem of non-return filling valve,
now namely “Bates Valve”, it took us several years for the dispute with Mr. Bates for theinternational patent. The government (the Patent Bureau) arbitrated. Taking the right otherthan the name, we agreed to the result that the sack was named Bates while the domestic
enforcement right was given to me and Mr. Hayashi, for which the 2 companies had beenfighting together. Through the story, I would inquire you never to stop the active researchand development of the products that can meet the demands of the next generation.

5. Gratitude and Coordination
The above is about the history of the company and its foundational spirit as well as the brief
course of how to gain the trust. Seeing from the first-class large enterprise, our company isa small one. But it is independent. Now we have 3 factories, owing to the predecessors,
bosom friends, who have added the light and shade principle, as well as the employees whocombine their mental efforts with their great progress. We must show our great gratitude tothem. Not only mustnʼt we forget the deep affection of our parents who have arduously
reared us but also remember well the elders, bosses after we have come upon the stage aswell as our wives and children. All the achievements cannot be made incidentally only by
our own. With the gratitude, as the destiny community, cultivating the spirits of cooperationand harmony is the proof of the prosperity in the future.
（To be continued）3/3

The Past and the Reality of Kujiraoka Paper Bag Co. Ltd.
‒ The Encounter of Kujiraoka and Cement Sack ‒The Trial Proof in 3 Aspects!!
No. 1: Mr. Bates introduced “Bates sack” to Japan in 1920.
No. 2: In 1925 in Karafuto (former Japanese territory) the first kraft paper was produced inJapan.
No. 3: In 1927, the chief engineer of Iwaki Cement, Mr. Manji Okada brought back to Japanthe cement sacks from Europe and the US.

1. The Bates sack in Japan

In the preface of “Biography of Bates”, chairman of Cement Association of that time(president of Nippon Cement), wrote:“I would like to disclose the episode on how Bates Bags were imported into Japan. Wooden
barrels had been used for quite a long time as the cement container. In the middle ofTaisho, the gunnysack took the place. Then, the beginning of Showa saw the use of thepaper sack. In the middle of the period that gunnysacks were used, an American introduced
a strange non-entrance sack to Japan. Normally, the mouth of the sack is closed after thefilling process. But the normal entrance of such a sack was not open. Instead it had a special
entrance in the bottom.
The inventor of the sack is A.M. Bates, elder brother of Mr. Bates mentioned above. Whilethe younger brother S.H. Bates introduced the sack to Japan at the beginning of the periodof Taisho (1920).
This kind of sacks required the Bates Packer. Asano Cement Company took the leadpurchasing the machine, which was installed in their Tokyo factory in April 1922 (the yearof Taisho 11). These are the stories of the first use of the Bates sack and the Bates Packer.
(Omitted)

2. The Birth of Kraft Paper in JapanThe former executive of Oji Paper, the big benefactor of our company, Mr. Asakiti Inaba,
who worked for Kita Nippon Paper Co. later after the bankrupt of Oji Paper (after WorldWar II) said in the preface of “Biography of A.M. Bates”: This is an old story back to the endof Taisho Period. At that time, when mentioning kraft paper, it meant LL paper fromSweden. When LL paper had been widely used domestically, managing director of Fuji
Paper (merged with Oji Paper later), Mr. Anamizu was convinced that it should be the timeto end the monopolistic market of Swedish paper. Then the plan of the production of kraft
paper in Karafuto started. The production began in the summer of 1925 (the year of Taisho14). (Omitted) At first, kraft paper was only used as the outer ply of normal packaging. Itwas used as the 2nd ply only for wooden barrels, which was called barrel paper, used pieceby piece. But in the US, due to the invention of Mr. Bates, people knew that kraft paper
could be used for the packaging of cement. They employed Japanese design while imitating.
This has advanced the development of the containers for cement, fertilizer, flour and sugaretc. and realized the flourishing of today.
（To be continued）1/6

The first year of Taisho Employment Memory at Yaguki Copper Mine Workmates of Smelting Section（President: middle of the front row）

3. The Encounter of Kujiraoka and the Cement Sack
No. 1: The Yotsukura Plant of Iwaki Cement was established at Yotsukura-cho, Iwaki-gun,
Fukushima Prefecture in 1908. It is chief engineer Mr. Manji Okada that had the raw
ore baking method successfully tested for the first time in Japan.
Just at this time, our founder Hyoei Kujiraoka, who had graduated from Kuramae TechnicalHigh School (The Tokyo Institute of Technology now), was working at the Yaguki Copper
Mine, which is close to his hometown of Yotsukura. It was the Yotsukura Industrial Plant
that had produced cement with limestone as main raw material. The limestone had beentransported by coach track first. Two years later in 1910, the cableway between Yaguki andTamayama for the transportation of limestone was completed so that the transportation oflarge quantities of limestone became possible. This is recorded in “The 80-Year History ofSumitomo Cement”.
Mr. Kujiraoka, who was then a technician of Yaguki Mine, once thought of removing thecement packed in barrels by the cableway as it was unloaded on its way back. But when thewind was strong, the wooden barrels might get dropped from the bucket. Finally herepacked the cement in the postal bags (cotton bags to carry mails) or gunnysacks andremoved them by the cableway. It had been very satisfactory, he said.
This shows that long before 1922 when Asano Cement used gunnysacks as the container ofcement, Kujiraoka had considered and put into practice the change from the wooden barrel
to the gunnysack. (By Hyoei Kujiraoka: “A Brief History of the Development of Japanʼs PaperSack”)
No. 2: According to “The 80-Year History of Sumitomo Cement”, from 1926 to 1927, in order
to investigate and study the manufactory technology of the cement plant built at
Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, the executive of Iwaki Cement, Mr. Manji Okada once
visited Europe and the US and met with Mr. Kujiraoka after he retuned. Mr. Kujiraoka
recorded it in the above-mentioned “Brief History” as follows:（To be continued）2/6

Around the middle of 1924 (the year of Taisho 13), the executive and chief engineer Mr.
Manji Okada visited Europe and the US, taking back from Germany some paper sacksamples. He said that the US was also doing the research of paper sacks so that sooner orlater the age of paper sack would surely come. Then Kujiraoka began the research of themulti-wall paper sack, making trial sacks with the reference of the gunnysack with
non-return valve, which was made in his own factory and the paper sack made in Germany.
Here, the historical moment is made to turn back a little by writing down afterwards therelations between the founder and the first president Mr. Hyoei Kujiraoka and the paper
sack from among the above-mentioned "Brief history".

(President: on the left of rear row)

Oil Floatation Itʼs the great invention of the world made by Kujiraoka. In order to extract
pure copper from among the slag heap, at the beginning of Taisho period, Mr. Kujiraoka
began to devote himself to the research of such equipment namely oil floatation. In 1915,
when his first son Hiyosuke was born, the Oil Floatation, which had taken a lot of his efforts,
was successfully completed. Allowing no explanation, the company he worked for declaredthat any invention (patent) of the employees belonged to the company unconditionally. For
this, he quit the job there. The equipment has been used by many mines by now.
After quitting the job of the mine, Mr. Kujiraoka went to Tokyo when his first son was 4years old. In the next year (1919), the signboard of “Kujiraoka Shop”, which sold materials
to the mine was displayed. It is 90 years since then.
In 1920 (the year of Taisho 9) Kujiraoka Shop began the production of gunnysacks forcement, sold to the Iwaki Cement and the Asano Cement. In 1922, the Bates Packer wasinstalled at the Tokyo factory of the Asano Cement and the gunnysacks with non-return
valve produced by Kujiraoka Shop were gradually used there.
（To be continued）3/6

After the Great Kanto Earthquake, for the revival of the emperor capital, the demand forwood increased rapidly and the price rose, too. The rapid increase of the demand ofgunnysacks also led to the shortage of the raw material of sailcloth. Therefore, Kujiraoka
began to produce a kind of gunnysack namely “Nanking Sack”, which was made of jute※.
This kind of gunnysack became very popular so that when mentioning the gunnysack, it
referred to the one made of jute and then the cement companies all over the country began
to use this sack. Kujiraoka Shop covered 70% of the demand of the country.
Later, to prevent cement from leaking, kraft paper was inserted into the sack. Kujiraoka also
produced the sack. As Mr. Tomokichi Hayashi, former president of Hayashi Shokai (laterHayashi Yuko Bag Company and now Oji Paper Bag), was his old friend, the mark print of
the sack was consigned to him. Later, the Hayashi Shokai designed the mouth-tightening
wire for the gunnysack and put it on the market.

At that time, it is 1927 that the “meet” with Mr. Okada occurred.
The brief history continues…

Kujiraoka had 2 factories then at Adachi-ku and Ojima-cho, Koto-ku in Tokyo. The factory at
Ojima concentrated on gunnysacks while the one at Adachi-ku on paper sacks. Of course,
they were made with the industrial sewing machine or manually pasted.
The only witness Mr. Sohei Ogawa, who worked at the factory in those days, testified asfollows:
I joined Kujiraoka Shop on May 25, 1925 at the age of 18 and got retired as an auditor inDecember, 1983.
＊During this period, I had been working for Kujiraoka Paper Bag Co., Ltd., mainly in chargeof the sales department.
＊When I entered the company, the factory was at Senju Azuma-cho, Adachi-ku, with thesignboard of “Kujiraoka Paper Article Factory”. The factory manager was Mr.Yoriei
Kujiraoka (brother of president Hyoei) while Ojima factory was managed by Mr.Toshiei
Kujiraoka (also brother of president Hyoei).
＊My first work had been running a printing machine. I changed to sales department in1941. I had been working by September 1943, when I got the call-out paper, which took
me to the army at Okinawa front. I was mobilized in December 1946 and returned to thecompany in February 1947.
＊The Productive Processes
1. First of all, put a pattern paper in the middle of lithographic kraft paper, bend the kraft andpaste it longitudinally. 6 to 7 woman workers took the job and one of them could produce
700 to 800 pieces per day.
2. Then, it was the turn of the planography machine
3. Thirdly, making the gussets of the sack(called “horizontal folding”), requiring 5to6 workers.
4. And then the folding of the Bates Mouth. 2 persons did it, with 3000 to 4000 pieces perperson per day.
5. Finally, cut the tube and have it sewn with the sewing machine.
6. The average monthly output was 400,000‒500,000 sacks. The maximum output reached
600,000 pieces per month.
（To be continued）4/6※Jute is a kind of raw material for weaving. The husk of jute is ﬂooded in water and resolved to produce tossa formegila. The raw material might be only called jute. Its origin is China and also India and Pakistan. It is somewhat
also planted in Japan. Its tossa is brown or a little green with luster. But its ﬁber is weak and bleaching is diﬃcult.
Discolored gradually, the ﬁber will sometimes become weak. It is woven into sailcloth for rain shade andpackaging.

Note: In the Appended Chart on the back page of “The Biography of Bates”, theabove-mentioned incident is briefly recorded as follows: In 1927 Toyo Paper Bag Co., Ltd.
was established. In 1929, the patent application for Bates Paper Bag of Toyo Paper Bag Co.,
Ltd. was proclaimed with the number of 5251 (December).
(cf. “Brief History”) After 1 or 2 years, Tokai Paper Bag (Sentaro Saito), Amagasaki
Box-Making (Tomizo Tarutani), Showa Paper Bag (Asajiro Kishimoto) and Nippon Paper Bag(Shotaro Konishi) could also make it. But for paper sack as mentioned above, the permission
through the consultation among the 3 gentlemen, Mr. Kishimoto of Toyo, Hayashi andKujiraoka, must be needed.

The Cement Sack Association, the Cooperative Sales Company, the Control Company
Clause 8 of “Brief History”
A. As the Cement Paper Bag Association made the agreement only for sales price and someregions, the agreement was always broken and the dispute never stopped.
B. With the establishment of the Cooperative Sales Company, the order (for cement sacks)
could be received in the name of the company. Therefore, even if there were some protests
against the monopolistic behavior, through Mr. Kujiraokaʼs (executive of the cooperativesales company) mediation, by clearing the atmosphere, the stencil was distributed in theratio to the bag companies by the control organization, which ensured more or less controlof the problem. But it was not to say that neither the secret import of foreign paper nor theviolation against the distribution ratio existed. During the World War II, the September 18
Incident broke in 1931; Japan withdrew from the League of Nations in February 1933; theJuly 7 Incident broke out and the war spread throughout China; Japan started the Pacific
War in December 1941 against the US and Britain. In this year, The Kraft Paper SackControl Company was founded, on which “Brief History” writes: During the period of theControl Company, with the progress of the war, the demands rapidly increased for thepackaging of cement, fertilizer, food and medicine, especially for cement. The desire of thebag-making enterprises and the consciousness to cooperate with the national policy madethe management of the Control Company the fairest and the most smooth. Thus, the Control
Company then showed its value of existence with no regret. But after the Tokyo Air Raid,the function was destroyed. The company saw the end of the war in the most difficult
condition. About the recycled sack, since the beginning of the Control Company, those thatoperated both new and used sacks had been separated and formed into two groups of new
sack makers and used sack reproducers. But in order to obtain the right producing new
sacks, the reproducers established an industrial society, who later launched a movement toseize the entire right of the Control Company, trying distributing kraft paper to the newsack makers. For a period of time, they had had a serious rivalry with the new sack makers.
But as the Control Company powerfully opposed, the ambition of the reproducers failed inthe end.
(Recorded on October 30, 1955. The end of the “Brief History” singed by Hyoei Kujiraoka)（End）6/6

Yesterday ‒ Today ‒ Tomorrow
The Genealogy of Paper Sack, Seen as the World History (Europe, the US and Japan)“The 100-Year History of Paper Sack” by Mr. Sander, former factory manager of Monheim
factory of Wilhelmstal, Germany, writes: The first paper sack factory in the US wasestablished in 1862. According to Mr. Hermann Hoelscher, the equipment used at that time
was named “Union Bag Machine”, which influenced Europe greatly in 1880ʼs.
It was in 1869 that this Mr. Hermann Hoelscher first produced “triangle-shaped tube” paper
sacks with a machine. In 1877, just on the third day after the German empire
monopolization patent office began its reception, he applied and got it registered as No.
130.
Then, Mr. Windmoeller and Mr. Hoelscher developed “Union Gusset Sack”. In 1888, Mr.
Gustav Fischer made a “Paper Bag Printer”. Moreover, in 1901, Mr. Hermann Hoelscher saw
his son-in-law complete “Gusseted Block Bottom Bag Making Machine”. As the bottom of thesack was folded with a wood block at that time, this kind of bag is still called “Block BottomBag” now.
While in the US in 1908, Mr. A. Bates had “Bates Valve Bag” come into use. And Mr. Bates,earlier in 1906, already got the patent of Bates Packer from the US Patent Office. (cf.
“Biography of A.M. Bates”)
At almost the same time, Mr. G. Fischer first exhibited his paper bag making machine for theproduction of 50 kg open-mouth cement sack at the Cement Industry Society of Germany.
According to Mr. Priem from Germany, it was no earlier than 1910 that the multi-wall sackwas developed.
From 1926 to 1927, the Bates Company in the US and Fischer & Krecke in Germany raised
a heated lawsuit for the patent of the cement sack. This expended the demand and thepopularity of the cement sack. But on the other hand, the Bates sack was gradually
abandoned in the German and European markets and the market share of the block bottom
sack increased.

The US/Aiming to Complete the Bates Bag“The Biography of Adelmer M. Bates” published by the Kraft Paper Bag Association of Japandescribed interestingly as follows: In 1923, vice president R. Bates brought back from
Germany a newly formatted cement sack. That was the multi-wall pasted sack. (omission)
Mr. A.M. Bates and his technicians analyzed the German new sack (omission). Then, theyfound out that this sack had been made in an epoch-making way. 5 paper rolls placed side
by side were drawn by a tubing machine (tuber), separated into tubes by a notch cutter withtwo vertical sides gusseted and with a valve inserted into one end, and then sewn by asewing machine. Moreover, the engineers of Bates Company and the Union Special Sewing
Machine in Chicago made a further research together. The 5-ply tube was formed of by 10pieces/plies of valve. If with the gusset formed, it became 20 pieces/plies. And if with avalve inserted, it would be as thick as 22 pieces/plies. The constant sewing of such tubes
would cause the trouble that the sewing needle got so hot that it became bent or evenbroken. Therefore, they had the up-down moving parts of the needle sleeved in a small
copper pipe and blew cold air into it to cool off the needle. It is not exaggerated to say thatthe manufacture of orthodox paper sack was instituted during this period.