Throwback Thursday: Shozaburo Shimano establishes Shimano Iron Works

​In February 1921, Shozaburo Shimano opened Shimano Iron Works in Higashi Minato in Sakai City, Japan when he was 26 years old. On the site of a demolished celluloid factory, Shimano rented a nearly 40-square-meter area for the monthly rent of 5 yen (about 69 cents in today’s dollars!). At that time, the new establishment had only a single lathe, measuring about 1.8 meters long. He had borrowed that machine from Sano Iron Works, benefiting from his friendship with its owner.