KURE GRINDING WHEEL offers a wide range of grinding wheels and related products and materials

Located on the shores of a calm, deep bay of the Seto Inland Sea, the city of Kure in Hiroshima Prefecture is ideally suited as a location for fleet training, and as a result the Kure Naval District was opened in 1889. During the same period, the Naval Academy was relocated from Tsukiji in Tokyo to Etajima in Hiroshima, and was attended by naval cadets including Saneyuki Akiyama, who was active during the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War.

As the Kure Naval District opened and the Naval Academy was relocated to Etajima, Kure became an important city as a military port. Dockyards were constructed, and the city began to collect a broad range of the latest technologies.
Grinding wheels were used in the construction of ships for cutting, grinding, and other steel machining processes, and became products of great importance that were essential for shipbuilding.

Kure as it appeared in 1900
Provided by the Arts and Sciences Section, Kure Maritime Museum.

At a commemorative victory exhibition following the 1906 Russo-Japanese War, synthetic grinding wheels from the United States were shown. This is believed to be the first time that synthetic grinding wheels were introduced to Japan. Semi synthetic grinding wheels had been used before, however they were thought primarily suited for polishing rather than grinding.
When synthetic grinding wheels were first used, people were astonished to see the shower of sparks produced when grinding hard steel. One of those people was the fabric merchant Kanekichi Takahashi, who became the first president of our company.

Kanekichi Takahashi was attracted by the fact that grinding wheels were “truly convenient and wonderful tools,” and in 1910 he began manufacturing the first domestic synthetic grinding wheels, made using agate from Izumo. This was how KURE GRINDING WHEEL got its start as a grinding wheel manufacturer.

Kanekichi Takahashi, first president of the company

1934: 15th Anniversary of the company

Overcoming numerous difficulties, the company succeeded in the manufacture of grinding wheels.
The Kure Naval Arsenal began the construction of many warships, including the battleship Yamato.
KGW grinding wheels were used to manufacture gun batteries and a large number of other parts.

In 1940, in order to meet growing demand for grinding wheels, a new plant was constructed in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, utilizing the latest equipment at that time.
Three years later in 1943, the Manchuria KGW Plant was established in Northeast China (Manchuria) and the KGW Osaka Plant was established in Osaka, further expanding the production of grinding wheels.

Following the war, production was restarted at the Kure Plant in 1948, and it has continued advancing up to the present day in pace with the development of the steel, automobile, train, electrical appliance, machinery, semiconductor, and other industries.

Production in the 1950s

Production in the 1960s

Production in the 1970s