Ikuta Jiro is the father who contributed to the resurgence of
Ikuta survived in the turbulent war.
Ikuta has a history of more than 140 years. But influenced by World War II, it had to return to the origin and start from scratch.
The origin of Ikuta can be dated back to the firm “Heya Touzou” which was established by the first generation, Ikuta Touzou, recorded in the late Edo period. The business was started in 1870 (the 3rd year of Meiji period). After that, the fourth generation, Hatsu Jiro, opened a craftsman shop.
In 1914 (the 3rd year of Taisho period), the fifth generation, Kiyoyoshi’s “Ikuta Woodwork Shop” was founded and used woodworking machines to start workshop production. The shop was mainly engaged in the production of frames of sliding doors in sericulture and the business was successfully expanded.
In the turmoil after WWII, Jiro organized staff to repair the woodworking machines that were burned in the war and took up the processing of rim charge in the central area of Nagoya. As mainland timber was acquired, he began to use it in residential corridors and long decks. Although burl-like wood grains was not popular then, depending on excellent quality and superior processing, without competitors, he won a lot of customers in Gifu and Hokuriku.
Ikuta Jiro had foresight and a challenging spirit.
And technical force was the driving force of everything.
From the manufacturing of wooden wall panels, Ikuta had become an enterprise specializing in flooring.
It was also dedicated to manufacturing wall panels with similar techniques to decks. These wall panels were used in the cinema in front of Nagoya Station. With this opportunity, the company began to draw attention.
Soon, it started to popularize broad-leaved flooring at schools and public institutions. Since 1958 (the 33rd year of Showa period), broad-leaved flooring had been used as the edge material of wall panels and Ikuta began to produce oak and beech flooring.
However, into the 1980s (the 50s in Showa period), carpet laying began to prevail. Most of the composite floor manufacturers came to a deadlock.
Under this circumstance, reports on TV changed the situation.
In 1984 (the 60th year of Showa period), the media was overwhelmed by reports on Children’ asthma caused by parasites in carpets. With this opportunity, wood flooring received attention again. There came a wave of modern wood flooring. In this process, the company gradually grew from a comprehensive building materials manufacturer to a specialized flooring manufacturer,
which aimed at coming first in the market.
An excelsior spirit always inspired Ikuta.
It is due to the advent of an age that accepted the pursuit of natural feeling that our excelsior flooring met new challenges.
Since a chaotic period with scarce materials, Ikuta Jiro had kept innovating and developing various techniques.
For example, he worked out a new practical solution, i.e., a 100×100mm square cutter, modified the existing cutter technically, improved its splicing performance, enhanced its serviceability significantly and received good comments.
In 1987 (the 62nd year of Showa period), it was renamed as “Ikuta Co., Ltd.” Ishikawa Yoshifumi, who had a technical field background, took office as Chairman of the Board and ushered in a new era.
The enthusiasm to pursue object creation was finally put into practice.
“As long as you produce good products, you can get recognition simply by flooring”. Precious wood flooring developed with this belief was top-grade and top-quality goods, and was used by more and more residents in residential area in the city of Tokyo.
The philosophy to strive to come first as well as accept challenges and an unremitting excelsior spirit always inspire Ikuta.
