Rihachi Mizuno
Nationality
Japan
Born
1884
Brands
2
Rihachi Mizuno (1884-1970) founded Mizuno Brothers Ltd. in Osaka in 1906 with his younger brother Rizo, originally selling Western sundries including baseballs. Inspired by American baseball culture, he began producing order-made athletic wear in 1907 and renamed the shop Mizuno in 1910, with in-house baseball and glove manufacturing from 1913. He went on to introduce Japan's first domestically made golf clubs in 1933 under the Star Line. Beyond product, Mizuno organised baseball tournaments and championed sport as a national project, leaving a sports foundation in his will. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, a year after his death.
