uses see yamaha disambiguation . yamaha corporation the headquarters of yamaha corporation native name romanized name yamaha kabushiki gaisha type public k.k. traded as tyo 7951 otcqx yamcy industry conglomerate founded october 12 1887 ; 129 years ago 1887 10 12 headquarters hamamatsu shizuoka japan area served worldwide key people torakusu yamaha founder takuya nakata 1 president & representative director products musical instruments audio equipment electronics yamaha motor company motorcycles all terrain vehicle wheelchairs personal watercraft marine engines parts including clothing and helmets 2 verification needed revenue jpy 410.3 billion 2014 3 operating income jpy 25 994 million 2014 verification needed 3 net income jpy 22 898 million 2014 verification needed 3 number of employees 19 851 2014 subsidiaries yamaha motor company website yamaha.com yamaha corporation yamaha kabushiki gaisha j m h or j m h ; japanese pronunciation jamaha is a japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate based in japan with a very wide range of products and services predominantly musical instruments electronics motorcycles and power sports equipment . contents 1 history 2 corporate mission 3 yamaha music foundation 4 products 4.1 synthesizers and samplers 5 sports teams 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit yamaha was established in 1887 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by torakusu yamaha as nippon gakki company limited nippon gakki seiz kabushiki kaisha literally japan musical instrument manufacturing corporation in hamamatsu shizuoka prefecture and was incorporated on october 12 1897 . the company s origins as a musical instrument manufacturer are still reflected today in the group s logo a trio of interlocking tuning forks . 4 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 rt125 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 5 the success of the ya 1 resulted in the founding of yamaha motor co. ltd. yamaha has grown to become the world s largest manufacturer of musical instruments including pianos silent pianos drums guitars brass instruments woodwinds violins violas celli and vibraphones as well as a leading manufacturer of semiconductors audio visual computer related products sporting goods home appliances specialty metals and industrial robots . 6 in 1989 yamaha shipped the world s first cd recorder . chronology citation needed yamaha purchased sequential circuits in 1988 . 7 it bought a majority stake 51 % of competitor korg in 1987 which was bought out by korg in 1993 . 8 in 2002 yamaha closed down its archery product business that was started in 1959 . six archers in five different olympic games won gold medals using their products . 9 it acquired german audio software manufacturers steinberg in january 2005 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 arm the company being renamed yamaha music u.k. ltd in autumn 2007 . 10 kemble & co. ltd the uk piano sales & manufacturing arm was unaffected . 11 on december 20 2007 yamaha made an agreement with the austrian bank bawag p.s.k. group bawag to purchase all the shares of b sendorfer 12 intended to take place in early 2008 . yamaha intends to continue manufacturing at the b sendorfer facilities in austria . 13 the acquisition of b sendorfer was announced after the namm show in los angeles on january 28 2008 . as of february 1 2008 b sendorfer klavierfabrik gmbh operates as a subsidiary of yamaha corp. 14 yamaha corporation is also widely known for their music teaching programme that began in the 1950s . yamaha electronic have proven to be successful popular and respected products . for example the yamaha ypg 625 was given the award keyboard of the year and product of the year in 2007 from the music and sound retailer magazine . 15 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 . other companies in the yamaha group include b sendorfer klavierfabrik gmbh vienna austria . yamaha motor company yamaha fine technologies co. ltd. yamaha golf cart company yamaha livingtec corporation yamaha metanix corporation yamaha music communications co. ltd. yamaha pro audio corporate mission edit kand is a japanese word used by yamaha to describe their corporate mission . kand in translation describes the sensation of profound excitement and gratification derived from experiencing supreme quality and performance . 16 some reasonable english synonyms are emotionally touching or emotionally moving . yamaha music foundation edit the yamaha music foundation is an organization established in 1966 by the authority of the japanese ministry of education for the purpose of promoting music education and music popularization . it continued a program of music classes begun by yamaha corporation in 1954 . 17 products edit main article list of yamaha products yamaha concert grand piano cfiiis ysp 2200 g an award winning innovation from yamaha . yamaha expanded into many diverse businesses and product groups . the first venture into each major category is listed below . 18 1897 keyboard instruments reed organ pianos in 1900 1903 furniture 1914 harmonicas 1922 audio equipment crank phonograph first 1942 guitars 1955 yamaha motor company motorcycles and vehicles watercraft ya 1 motorcycle first 1959 sporting goods starting with archery 1959 music schools 1961 metal alloys 1965 band instruments trumpet first 1971 semiconductors 1984 industrial robots 2001 yamaha entertainment group record company synthesizers and samplers edit yamaha announced the singing synthesizer vocaloid for the first time at the german fair musikmesse on march 5 9 2003 . 19 yamaha also began to get involved with the sale and production of vocaloid applications themselves with lily being the first ; lily was later sold via internet co. ltd. s website . their involvement continued with the vy series with vy1 being the first released in deluxe and standard editions on september 1 2010 . 20 the vy series is a series designed to be a high quality product for professional musicians . the series is also designed with the intention to set a new standard for the vocaloids for having no face sex or set voice but are designed to complete any song . 21 vy1 saw a new approach to how the software handled the database of samples and improved the performance of the vocaloid 2 engine . yamaha announced a version of the vocaloid 2 software for the iphone and ipad which exhibited at the y2 autumn 2010 digital content expo in japan . 22 23 later this version of the software was released using the vy1 voice . 24 25 vy2 will also be released for this version of the software . 26 sports teams edit yamaha jubilo rugby j bilo iwata football see also edit list of phonograph manufacturers list of yamaha products yamaha motor company star motorcycles yamaha pro audio mlan yamaha xg references edit notification of change in representative director pdf . yamaha corporation . retrieved 2013 07 15 . annual report 2014 pdf . yamaha corporation . a b c annual report 2014 p. 10 key figures yamaha corporate information . global website . yamaha corporation . yamaha motor . forbes global 2000 list . yamaha corporate history . yamaha corporation of america & yamaha corporation . retrieved 2011 04 26 . sequential circuits prophet synthesizers 5 & 10 retro sound on sound no . march 1999 1989 1999 in 1988 yamaha bought the rights and assets of sci and these rights included the employment contracts of many of the company s development team including dave smith himself . ... then in 1989 the team moved to korg where they designed the now classic wavestations . ... gordon reid 40 years of gear the history of korg part 2 sound on sound no . november 2002 1987 ... however in 1987 the relationship took another huge step forward when yamaha bought a controlling interest in korg inc effectively making it a subsidiary . 1993 ... the previous five years had been very successful and tsutomu katoh now had some cash at his disposal . in fact he had enough to buy out the majority of yamaha s share in korg . so he did . yamaha to close archery products business . yamaha corporation . 2002 02 01 . archived from the original on 2004 01 16 . retrieved 2008 04 30 . cancellation of joint venture contracts for sales subsidiaries in u.k. and spain . yamaha global website . july 10 2007 . barrett andy july 10 2007 . yamaha buys out kemble family . mi pro . competition for bosendorfer . forbes . 2007 11 30 . yamaha reaches basic agreement with austrian bank to purchase all shares of b sendorfer . yamaha global website . december 20 2007 . bosendorfer klavierfabrik gmbh . business week . march 3 2008 . ypg 625 88 key weighted action portable grand . yamha corporation of america & yamaha corporation . yamaha corporate mission . yamaha motor uk . yamaha music foundation history . yamaha music foundation . yamaha history . corporate information global website . yamaha corporation . retrieved 2012 11 13 . new yamaha vocaloid singing synthesis software generates superb vocals on a pc . business wire . allbusiness.com . march 4 2003 . retrieved october 25 2010 . vy1 new model vocaloid vy1 presentation in japanese . bplats . august 13 2010 . retrieved august 13 2010 . okada yuka august 13 2010 . vocaloid vy1 9 vy1 a vocaloid with no character first yamaha made sold in september in japanese . it media . retrieved september 5 2010 . expo vocaloid ipad iphone digital content expo vocaloid becomes ipad iphone applications . yamaha develops those in japanese . it media . october 14 2010 . retrieved october 17 2010 . y2 autumn 2010 digital content expo 2010 in japanese . digital content expo . archived from the original on 2010 10 07 . retrieved october 17 2010 . ivocaloid vy1 in japanese . apple inc. retrieved december 13 2010 . ivocaloid vy1t in japanese . apple inc. retrieved december 13 2010 . matsuo k ya april 15 2011 . vy2 codename is y ma . i heard the story of the yamaha pure cool vocalo vy2 in japanese . it media . retrieved april 28 2011 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to yamaha corporation . official website takuya nakata namm oral history interview 2009 hitoshi fukutome namm oral history interview 2013 hiroo okabe namm oral history interview v t e nikkei 225 companies of japan 7 & i advantest on agc ajinomoto alps ana amada aozora bank asahi breweries asahi kasei astellas bridgestone canon casio chiba bank chiyoda chuden chugai citizen comsys concordia financial credit saison dai ichi life daiichi sankyo daikin dainippon screen dainippon sumitomo pharma daiwa house daiwa securities denka denso dentsu dnp dowa ebara eisai fanuc fast retailing fuji electric fuji heavy industries fujifilm fujikura fujitsu fukuoka financial furukawa co. ltd. furukawa electric gs yuasa heiwa real estate hino hitachi hitachi construction machinery hitz hokuetsu paper honda ihi inpex isetan mitsukoshi isuzu itochu jfe j. front retailing jgc jr central jr east jr west jsw jt jtekt jx kajima kepco kao kawasaki kddi keio keisei kikkoman kirin k line kobelco komatsu konami konica minolta kubota kuraray kyocera kyowa hakko kirin marubeni maruha nichiro marui matsui securities mazda meidensha meiji