Uchikura & Co., LLC

Noritake: Born from a Desire to Enrich Japan

 

When Japan opened its ports in the nineteenth century, the country was poor and economically vulnerable. Because Japan’s gold-to-silver exchange ratio differed greatly from international rates, large amounts of Japanese gold flowed overseas.

 

Ichizaemon Morimura （森村市左衛門）was deeply concerned. He consulted Yukichi Fukuzawa, who reportedly advised him that the only way to recover Japan’s lost wealth was through foreign trade.

 

Morimura decided to export Japanese products and earn money from overseas. His purpose was greater than personal profit. He wanted to make Japan prosperous.

 

In 1876, he sent his younger brother, Toyo Morimura, to New York, where they began selling Japanese ceramics and other goods. This business became Morimura Brothers and eventually led to the establishment of Noritake in 1904.

 

Noritake became internationally known for fine tableware. However, the company continued developing the skills required to crush, mix, print, fire, grind, and polish materials. Those skills now support electronics, semiconductors, automobiles, industrial furnaces, and advanced ceramics.

 

The same business group also produced companies such as TOTO, NGK Insulators, and Niterra.

 

Noritake began with a simple conviction: Japan was poor, so Japan needed to create something the world would buy.