Kihachiro
Onitsuka,
A
Portrait
of
the
Pioneer

The Enduring Spirit of
Kihachiro Onitsuka

Onitsuka Co., Ltd., began as a company with only two employees, driven by an aspiration to make shoes in the chaotic postwar period.
Here, we delve into what Onitsuka—our indomitable founder, who built this world-class brand in just his own lifetime—was really like.

In 1949, shortly after the end of World War II, Kihachiro Onitsuka founded Onitsuka Co., Ltd., with the aim of manufacturing sports shoes. Onitsuka, inspired by the ancient Roman saying, “A sound mind in a sound body,” believed that sports were essential for the physical and mental development of the young. It was his duty, he believed, to popularize sports, and began manufacturing sports shoes from scratch.
Onitsuka, however, was a completely inexperienced in not only sports, but also shoemaking, and from the start his business was a series of trials and errors. His first project was basketball shoes, considered to be an extremely difficult task among sports shoes manufacturers at the time.
Upon delivery of the prototype to the high school coach who had proposed the idea, the coach knocked it to the floor, claiming disparagingly that “It looks like a straw sandal!” From that day on, Onitsuka began visiting the high school gymnasium regularly, retrieving balls as he observed the players’ footwork and listened directly to their opinions. Thinking to improve shoe grip, he devised a pair of shoes with soles inspired by octopus suction cups. The new soles, however, proved to be too strong: the excessive traction had the players tripping all over the court. Finally, after repeated fine-tuning, he completed the first Onitsuka basketball shoes. The team wearing his shoes went on to win their tournament.
Onitsuka’s sports shoes would go on to support the performances of top athletes in numerous international spor ting events. However, regardless of the size or significance of the stage, Onitsuka’s philosophy of shoemaking has remained unchanged throughout. By always prioritizing athletes first and confronting challenges with a research-oriented approach based in trial and error, Onitsuka ultimately succeeded in creating innovative new technologies.
“ If you start with what ’s dif ficult, everything else will come easy”—that was Onitsuka’s motto. The spirit of Kihachiro Onitsuka, a man who, even in the face of the seemingly impossible, confronted challenges with an unflinching gaze and carved his own path in the industry, continues to live on in Onitsuka Tiger to this day.

Kihachiro Onitsuka

Kihachiro Onitsuka
Founder

Founded Onitsuka Co., Ltd., in 1949. In 1977, ASICS was formed out of the merging of Onitsuka Co., Ltd., and two other companies. The company name is derived from the initials of the Latin phrase anima sana in corpore sano , meaning “a sound mind in a sound body.”
Until his passing in 2007 at the age of 89, it was said to be a daily routine for him to take a walk wearing his Onitsuka Tiger shoes.

Kihachiro Onitsuka’s Favorite Sayings

In the archive room at the ASICS headquarters in Kobe, there is a private space recreated to resemble Kihachiro Onitsuka’s office. On the large desk sits a sma l l notebook Onitsuka carr ied everywhere with him during his lifetime. Between its weathered leather covers, written in meticulous, dense script, are the numerous sayings that were of profound inspiration to Oni tsuka, encountered in his daily conversations and in books, magazines, TV programs, and more. Onitsuka’s words adorn even the walls of the archive room, where his works of calligraphy echo these sayings, their presence a reminder of Onitsuka’s honest, steadfast nature and spirit of challenge.

Looking back to the very start, when Onitsuka first embarked on the venture of manufacturing sports shoes, there were the words “A sound mind in a sound body.” In the face of unexpected illness or continuous failures of trial and error, the phrase drew him back to his feet once more, to try again and again: “If you fall, just get back up. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” For Onitsuka, words were a surge of energy.
Even when faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges, sayings such as “When, if not now? Who, if not me?” and “Where there is a will, there is a way” provided the impetus for Onitsuka to continue undaunted in the pursuit of ambitious goals.
All of his beloved sayings get right to the point, imbued with a universal power that propels people positively forward.
Over the course of the company’s 75-year history, numerous athletes wearing the shoes and apparel created by Onitsuka have been crowned world champions on the international stage.
Onitsuka’s brand now boasts stores all over the world and has attracted fans of all backgrounds and generations. Onitsuka embraced the sayings that inspired him as the guiding principles in his life and business, following steadfastly the path he believed in. Behind the great strides made by this world- class Japanese brand lies a fearless, challenge-driven spirit, and the simple but profound words that fueled it.