This year on March 21st, Shimano celebrated its centennial anniversary, a significant milestone in its history. Shimano began from the dreams that Shozaburo Shimano, a knife craftsman from Sakai-City, aspired to achieve through unique metalworking technology.
For the last 100 years, Shimano has been striving to bring people closer to nature by developing bicycles, fishing tackle, and rowing equipment.
The first-ever item off the production line in 1921 was the 3.3.3 single freewheel for the cycling trade, but it was not until 1970 that the company made its first foray in the fishing tackle industry via the #BB2 reel.
This reel was well received, and Shimano took advantage of gear development and manufacturing experience to introduce the DUX spinning reel. From there, Shimano has introduced over 100-iconic reel series.
To celebrate this fantastic achievement, Shimano has prepared a special commemorative website that looks back through the last century and champions the amazing developments made over that time. You can check out the website here.
In commemoration of its centennial, Shimano has also created a tricolour centennial logo to symbolize its stance in society and determination for the future. The light green, blue, and deep blue colours represent land, sky, and sea, respectively. These three colours transcend words in making clear Shimano’s corporate mission: “To promote health and happiness through the enjoyment of nature and the world around us”.
Shimano has always been, and always will be, providing highly trusted quality and deliver captivating products for the next 100 years.