Japan’s fiber industry began seeing major advances during the Meiji era (1868–1912). It was a time when raw cotton importing and cotton product exporting were dominated by two groups of fiber trading companies known as the Kansai Cotton Five and the Semba Eight. The Semba Eight were named for their area of origin in Osaka. Besides Yagi, the group consisted of Mataichi, Iwata Shoji, Maruei, Tazuke, Takemura Mengyo, Takenaka and Toyoshima. The members of the Kansai Cotton Five were Itochu, Marubeni, Nippon Menka (now Sojitz), Toyo Menka (now Toyota Tsusho) and Gosho (now Kanematsu). While these two groups of companies at one time led Japan’s fiber industry, they were hit hard by a depression caused by emergency orders for the Korean War. The Kansai Cotton Five handled the crisis by transforming into general trading companies by augmenting their steel divisions and taking similar steps. But the Semba Eight were forced into bankruptcy, dissolution and mergers. Only Yagi managed to continue doing business as an independent entity, keeping the same Semba headquarters location it had always had.
Yagi was able to survive the depression and has continued thriving as the sole remaining member of the Semba Eight to this day. A combination of two traits has been behind this success. One is our cautious, sober approach to business informed by attitudes inherited from our founder—Dependability First and Integrity in All Things. The other is the energized way in which we continually take on new challenges. By drawing on our history and portfolio of achievements, Yagi will continue to uphold the spirit of our founder and face the challenges of an unpredictable future. We will help shape the fiber industry into the next century and beyond.
