, founder of Yamaha Corporation was established in 1887 as a
reed organ manufacturer by
Torakusu Yamaha () in
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, and was incorporated on 12 October 1897. In 1900, the company manufactured the first piano to be made in Japan, The company's origins as a
musical instrument manufacturer are still reflected today in the group's logo—a trio of interlocking
tuning forks. After
World War II, company president
Genichi Kawakami repurposed the remains of the company's war-time production machinery and the company's expertise in metallurgical technologies to the manufacture of
motorcycles.
The YA-1 (AKA Akatombo, the "Red Dragonfly"), of which 125 were built in the first year of production (1954), was named in honour of the founder. It was a 125cc, single
cylinder, two-stroke street bike patterned after the German
DKW RT 125 (which the British munitions firm,
BSA, had also copied in the post-war era and manufactured as the
Bantam and
Harley-Davidson as the
Hummer). In 1955, the success of the YA-1 resulted in the founding of
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., splitting the motorcycle division from the company. Also, in 1954 the
Yamaha Music School was founded. Yamaha released the
Yamaha CS-80 in 1977. In 1983, Yamaha made the first commercially successful digital synthesizer, the
Yamaha DX7. In 1988, Yamaha shipped the world's first
CD recorder. Yamaha purchased
Sequential Circuits in 1988. It bought a majority stake (51%) of competitor
Korg in 1987, which was bought out by Korg in 1993. In the late 1990s, Yamaha released a series of portable battery operated keyboards under the PSS and the PSR range of keyboards. The Yamaha PSS-14 and PSS-15 keyboards were upgrades to the Yamaha PSS-7 with short demo songs, short selectable phrases, and sound effects. In 2002, Yamaha closed its
archery product business that was started in 1959. Six archers in five different
Olympic Games won gold medals using their products. In January 2005, it acquired German audio software manufacturer
Steinberg from
Pinnacle Systems. In July 2007, Yamaha bought out the minority shareholding of the Kemble family in Yamaha-Kemble Music (UK) Ltd, Yamaha's UK import and musical instrument and professional audio equipment sales division. It was renamed Yamaha Music U.K. Ltd in late 2007. Kemble & Co. Ltd, the UK piano sales & manufacturing arm, was unaffected. On 20 December 2007, Yamaha made an agreement with the Austrian Bank
BAWAG PSK Gruppe to purchase all the shares of
Bösendorfer, with Yamaha intending to continue manufacturing at the Bösendorfer facilities in Austria. The acquisition was announced on 28 January 2008, after the
NAMM Show in Los Angeles. As of 1 February 2008, Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH operates as a subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. Yamaha electronics have proven to be successful, popular, and respected products. For example, the
Yamaha YPG-625 was awarded "Keyboard of the Year" and "Product of the Year" in 2007 from
The Music and Sound Retailer magazine. Other noteworthy Yamaha electronics include the
SHS-10 Keytar, a consumer-priced keytar which offered MIDI output features normally found on much more expensive keyboards. ==Business segments==