The founder,
Tomijiro Kobayashi

Preface

Contributing to society
through business– The story of the founding of Lion –Lion's efforts to promote oral health are born of founder Tomijiro Kobayashi's passion
to "serve the world and serve humanity." This chapter introduces the stormy life of
Tomijiro Kobayashi and the roots of Lion's social contributions.
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The Kobayashi family when it
w a s i n t h e s a k e - b re w i n gbusiness. Tomijiro is in the
middle row, third from the left.

Bad luck andgood luck intertwined
Navigating through turbulent times
Tomijiro Kobayashi, the fourth son of the Kobayashi family, was born in
1852. Although he was a hard worker by nature and blessed with businessacumen, he lived in turbulent times and experienced continuous hardship.
When he was just 20 years old, the Edo shogunate, desperate for militaryfunding, levied a hefty tax that caused the downfall of the family business.
Heading to Tokyo with empty pockets, he threw himself into the soap business, which was new at the time. For a short time, he was a company manbankrupted the firm. After that, while working at the company of an
factory next to the Kitakami River in Miyagi Prefecture. However, in 1890
he lost it all in a flood that also washed away a lot of timber that had beenpurchased to make matchsticks. Worse yet, claims that the timber destroyed
bridges and homes brought him to the brink of throwing himself into theriver, but he suddenly recalled a bible verse that a clergyman had told him
two years earlier: "For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather thanpleasant, but it later yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those whoThe story of the founding of Lion

acquaintance, and with an eye on the future of the match business, he built aPreface

ager, but the Meiji government's financial reforms led to a recession thathave been shaped by it." He took the words to heart to gather his strengthfor one more try.
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Tomijiro Kobayashi & Co.,
the predecessor of theLion Group, in what is now
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 1891.

Tomijiro Kobayashi &Company is founded
Lion Dentifrice goes on sale
After the tragic flood, Tomijiro worked to rebuild the factory, but became
ill with anxiety. Together with his wife, he reluctantly returned to Tokyo.
Then, an old acquaintance learned of Tomijiro's distress and offered assistance enabling him to begin trading in raw materials for soap and othergoods. Even before recovering from his illness, he threw himself into thebusiness, and consequently made many acquaintances. Tomijiro’s abundant
knowledge led to steady sales growth, and eventually, the opening of TomiPreface

jiro Kobayashi & Co. in 1891. Later, while he was searching for ways toexpand the business, tooth powder was introduced to the market. Although

The story of the founding of Lion

there were already several competing products, he thought that if many
more people would try using tooth powder, then the market would expand
many times over. He decided to enter the market, but with no expertise, hefumbled at first. However, after poring through specialized books, learningfrom a clergyman how tooth powders were manufactured overseas, andworking so hard that he often forget to eat and sleep, his first tooth powder
went on sale in 1896. Using German-made ingredients and British-madeflavorings, the product was named Lion Dentifrice after the king of beasts.
Thanks to Tomijiro's tireless marketing efforts and imaginative advertising,sales increased steadily year after year.

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To m i j i r o K o b a y a s h i &Company's tooth dentifrice
bag with charity coupon
printed on the back went onsale in 1900. A donation
would be made to charity foreach empty bag returned tothe company.

Man shall not live for greed
The Saint of the Abacus
At age 39, Tomijiro had finally found success, but did not get carried away
by it. One clergyman called him "The Saint of the Abacus" in reference tohis passions for business and charitable activities. Warmhearted and easily
moved to tears, Tomijiro was very sympathetic toward unfortunate orphansand elderly people he came in contact with, and donated large sums to charitable institutions such as orphanages.
In 1900, after miraculously surviving a severe case of typhoid fever, Tomiserve society’s well-being." However, his experience as a donor to orphandering whether there was a way to join others of good will in contributing
to society, he recalled a newspaper article about an American company that
had issued charity coupons, and came up with the idea of attaching such
coupons to his own company's products.
This creative use of coupons brought instant fame to Tomijiro Kobayashi& Co. and was the start of Lion's activities to "contribute to society throughbusiness" and promote oral health, which continue to this day.

The story of the founding of Lionages made him acutely aware of one’s limited power to serve society. Won-Preface

jiro said "I will dedicate the rest of my life to God and humanity, and try to9The director of Okayama
Orphanage named the newfacility Lion Hall in gratitude
for Tomijiro Kobayashi &Co.’s charitable contributions
that enabled the orphanage
to the point that it wascomprised of 10 buildings.

About 7 billion yen go to charitable
institutions throughout Japan
Bags of Lion Dentifrice with charity coupon go on sale
Quickly expanding the charity coupon concept to medical treatment for
typhoid, Tomijiro released the bag of Lion Dentifrice with charity coupon
including a ¥20 coupon, each priced at today’s equivalent of about ¥600.
Buyers were to send the coupons to any charitable institution of theirchoice, for that institution to receive a donation from Tomijiro Kobayashi &Co. according to the number of coupons received. Inevitably, some of thecoupons would be discarded, but the company still converted uncollected
Preface
The story of the founding of Lion
10charity coupons into cash for beneficiary institutions throughout Japan.
While the charity coupon scheme was widely praised, some critics claimed
the company’s sale of the bags was self-promoting and that "the quality ofthe product decreased to account for the donations." To counter these perceptions, the company announced that each ¥20 coupon contribution wasoffset by cost savings in product packaging, rather than in the product itself.
For 20 years after their introduction in 1900, the charity coupons fed a hugeamount of donated money – the equivalent of around 7 billion yen today –to institutions countrywide, including orphanages and childcare facilities,
testifying to Tomijiro's altruism.

Many mourners attended
Tomijiro's funeral. Theseevents appear in Japan's
oldest original negative
movie film, presently storedat National Museum ofModern Art in Tokyo.

There is life after death
Furthering the founder's aspirations
Tomijiro's philanthropy was not directed solely toward charitable institutions; he also cared deeply about his company's employees. At the time,
many female workers at the factory had only elementary school or
pre-school educations, so he opened a night school so they could study general subjects and sewing before getting married. He also sent young factory
workers to a night school run by the Tokyo Christian Youth Association, tolearn English. Employees were pleased with these arrangements, and supunavoidable.
coupon began, in Yanagihara, Kanda where the company was founded, thebeloved Tomijiro passed away at age 58 in a second-floor tatami room surrounded by his family and 50 employees. The funeral procession was led bya two-horse carriage carrying Tomijiro's coffin. More than 100 wreaths
were sent by charitable institutions around Japan. The column of mourners
was supposedly hundreds of meters long.
Tomijiro's deep spirit of charity lived on in his son, Tomijiro Jr., and em-The story of the founding of LionIn 1910, 10 years after the sale of bags of Lion Dentifrice with charity

Prefaceposedly no one ever quit Tomijiro Kobayashi & Company, unless it wasployees who carried on and evolved oral health promotion initiatives.
11ue
Lion's uniqs①
al activitie
promotion

Advertising fertilizes product growth● The first advertising song performed in Japan
Referred to as the King of Advertising, Tomijiro was always an innovator at capturing attention and driving a response. In 1896, when Lion Dentifrice went onsale, he put on distinctive parades with Lion Dentifrice banners raised andmarching bands playing popular songs with lyrics altered to advertise the product. Crowds of people, many of which
had never heard a band perform, wereoften so dense that it was impossible toproceed at times. Such publicity helped
make Lion Dentifrice popular nationwide.

● Fans buy tooth powder to attend sumo wrestling events
Preface
The story of the founding of Lion
12

In 1900, Tomijiro Kobayashi & Company invited customers who purchased threelarge bags of Lion Dentifrice to watch sumo wrestling for free. This chance to seepopular wrestlers compete brought a rush of sumo fans from near and far to theevent, which drew around 20,000 people
over two days. Such bold, imaginative
promotions effectively drove steady sales
growth at the company.

Looking back on the Preface

A wish for happinessunchanged for over a century
1891, the year Tomijiro Kobayashi Sr. founded the company, was amajor turning point for Japan in becoming a modern nation, andmany Japanese wondered what to do in the new era. Tomijiro forgedhis path out of a passion to serve society through business, withgreat sympathy for the underdogs of the world. This bold spirit
inspired the company to promote oral health and community service
activities, which still continue to thrive over 100 years later.
Preface
The story of the founding of Lion
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