Wooden box with hinged lid. Contains type for Japanese typewriter. Characters include Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji as well as Arabic numerals, Latin alphabet lettering and punctuation. Space for around 2,450 pieces of type.

While typewriters which use the Latin alphabet were popularised in the late 19th Century, the adaptation of this technology to work for languages such as Japanese took longer to develop. This complexity stems from the fact that Japanese uses three separate alphabets, Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. The largest of these alphabets is Kanji, which is made up of thousands of different characters. Although ‘kana’ (hiragana & katakana) typewriters had been created, the incorporation of Kanji proved difficult. Despite these issues, around 40 years after Remington began producing the first Latin-alphabet typewriters, Kyota Sugimoto invented the first Japanese typewriter in 1915. This was a highly significant creation and in 1985, as part of their centenary celebrations, Sugimoto was named by the Japanese Patent Office as one of Japan’s 10 greatest inventors.

This typewriter reflects Sugimoto’s original patent and was produced by the Nippon Typewriter Company. This model appears to have been made in 1920. It is dated in a traditional format, noting the ‘date of manufacture’ as the 11th month of the 9th year. This likely refers to Emperor Taisho who reigned July 1912-December 1926, meaning this model was produced in 1920. There is reference to changes in the structure of these typewriters in 1927 to incorporate elements such as a longer paper cylinder. This suggests that the date refers to 1920 rather than the 9th year of the following emperor, 1934. The patent for the original style of typewriter was first granted in Japan in 1915 and in America in 1917, so this object reflects a relatively early model.

The letter tray, or ‘type-nest’, of this typewriter can hold around 2,450 pieces of type each marked with an individual character. This roughly reflects the baseline number of characters for Japanese students who complete compulsory education and so is a suitable quantity for a typewriter. These characters represent some of the most used Kanji as well as Hiragana and Katakana alphabets.

The operator would control this typewriter using two handles, one on the front of the type-nest, which moves it side to side to enable access to all the characters, and another which controls the main typing mechanism. Both of these components are on rollers to enable easy movement. Once the striker has been positioned over the required character the operator pushes down on the typing mechanism handle. This causes a pin under the type block to be raised, pushing the block into the striker. Then, a wheel of ink moves over the block before the character is raised and stamped onto the paper. These movements are then reversed and the character is returned to its original location in the type-nest. Contrary to Latin alphabet typewriters, this machine differs in that it types characters from top bottom, right to left, conforming to Japanese style.

Wooden box with hinged lid. Contains type for Japanese typewriter. Inside of the box lid features a printed chart representing all the characters contained within the box. Reference chart features some handwritten annotation in Japanese. Spaces for around 2,450 pieces of type.

While typewriters which use the Latin alphabet were popularised in the late 19th Century, the adaptation of this technology to work for languages such as Japanese took longer to develop. This complexity stems from the fact that Japanese uses three separate alphabets, Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. The largest of these alphabets is Kanji, which is made up of thousands of different characters. Although ‘kana’ (hiragana & katakana) typewriters had been created, the incorporation of Kanji proved difficult. Despite these issues, around 40 years after Remington began producing the first Latin-alphabet typewriters, Kyota Sugimoto invented the first Japanese typewriter in 1915. This was a highly significant creation and in 1985, as part of their centenary celebrations, Sugimoto was named by the Japanese Patent Office as one of Japan’s 10 greatest inventors.

This typewriter reflects Sugimoto’s original patent and was produced by the Nippon Typewriter Company. This model appears to have been made in 1920. It is dated in a traditional format, noting the ‘date of manufacture’ as the 11th month of the 9th year. This likely refers to Emperor Taisho who reigned July 1912-December 1926, meaning this model was produced in 1920. There is reference to changes in the structure of these typewriters in 1927 to incorporate elements such as a longer paper cylinder. This suggests that the date refers to 1920 rather than the 9th year of the following emperor, 1934. The patent for the original style of typewriter was first granted in Japan in 1915 and in America in 1917, so this object reflects a relatively early model.

The letter tray, or ‘type-nest’, of this typewriter can hold around 2,450 pieces of type each marked with an individual character. This roughly reflects the baseline number of characters for Japanese students who complete compulsory education and so is a suitable quantity for a typewriter. These characters represent some of the most used Kanji as well as Hiragana and Katakana alphabets.

The operator would control this typewriter using two handles, one on the front of the type-nest, which moves it side to side to enable access to all the characters, and another which controls the main typing mechanism. Both of these components are on rollers to enable easy movement. Once the striker has been positioned over the required character the operator pushes down on the typing mechanism handle. This causes a pin under the type block to be raised, pushing the block into the striker. Then, a wheel of ink moves over the block before the character is raised and stamped onto the paper. These movements are then reversed and the character is returned to its original location in the type-nest. Contrary to Latin alphabet typewriters, this machine differs in that it types characters from top bottom, right to left, conforming to Japanese style.

Open-top wooden box. Contains around 280 kanji characters for Japanese typewriter.

While typewriters which use the Latin alphabet were popularised in the late 19th Century, the adaptation of this technology to work for languages such as Japanese took longer to develop. This complexity stems from the fact that Japanese uses three separate alphabets, Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. The largest of these alphabets is Kanji, which is made up of thousands of different characters. Although ‘kana’ (hiragana & katakana) typewriters had been created, the incorporation of Kanji proved difficult. Despite these issues, around 40 years after Remington began producing the first Latin-alphabet typewriters, Kyota Sugimoto invented the first Japanese typewriter in 1915. This was a highly significant creation and in 1985, as part of their centenary celebrations, Sugimoto was named by the Japanese Patent Office as one of Japan’s 10 greatest inventors.

This typewriter reflects Sugimoto’s original patent and was produced by the Nippon Typewriter Company. This model appears to have been made in 1920. It is dated in a traditional format, noting the ‘date of manufacture’ as the 11th month of the 9th year. This likely refers to Emperor Taisho who reigned July 1912-December 1926, meaning this model was produced in 1920. There is reference to changes in the structure of these typewriters in 1927 to incorporate elements such as a longer paper cylinder. This suggests that the date refers to 1920 rather than the 9th year of the following emperor, 1934. The patent for the original style of typewriter was first granted in Japan in 1915 and in America in 1917, so this object reflects a relatively early model.

The letter tray, or ‘type-nest’, of this typewriter can hold around 2,450 pieces of type each marked with an individual character. This roughly reflects the baseline number of characters for Japanese students who complete compulsory education and so is a suitable quantity for a typewriter. These characters represent some of the most used Kanji as well as Hiragana and Katakana alphabets.

The operator would control this typewriter using two handles, one on the front of the type-nest, which moves it side to side to enable access to all the characters, and another which controls the main typing mechanism. Both of these components are on rollers to enable easy movement. Once the striker has been positioned over the required character the operator pushes down on the typing mechanism handle. This causes a pin under the type block to be raised, pushing the block into the striker. Then, a wheel of ink moves over the block before the character is raised and stamped onto the paper. These movements are then reversed and the character is returned to its original location in the type-nest. Contrary to Latin alphabet typewriters, this machine differs in that it types characters from top bottom, right to left, conforming to Japanese style.

Rectangular metal tin for ‘Pioneer Brand Golden Flake Cavendish’ tobacco. Contains loose type of Kanji and Latin alphabet characters. Some Latin alphabet keys have traces of blue ink. Tin also contains 13 rectangular metal plates of varying thicknesses.

While typewriters which use the Latin alphabet were popularised in the late 19th Century, the adaptation of this technology to work for languages such as Japanese took longer to develop. This complexity stems from the fact that Japanese uses three separate alphabets, Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. The largest of these alphabets is Kanji, which is made up of thousands of different characters. Although ‘kana’ (hiragana & katakana) typewriters had been created, the incorporation of Kanji proved difficult. Despite these issues, around 40 years after Remington began producing the first Latin-alphabet typewriters, Kyota Sugimoto invented the first Japanese typewriter in 1915. This was a highly significant creation and in 1985, as part of their centenary celebrations, Sugimoto was named by the Japanese Patent Office as one of Japan’s 10 greatest inventors.

This typewriter reflects Sugimoto’s original patent and was produced by the Nippon Typewriter Company. This model appears to have been made in 1920. It is dated in a traditional format, noting the ‘date of manufacture’ as the 11th month of the 9th year. This likely refers to Emperor Taisho who reigned July 1912-December 1926, meaning this model was produced in 1920. There is reference to changes in the structure of these typewriters in 1927 to incorporate elements such as a longer paper cylinder. This suggests that the date refers to 1920 rather than the 9th year of the following emperor, 1934. The patent for the original style of typewriter was first granted in Japan in 1915 and in America in 1917, so this object reflects a relatively early model.

The letter tray, or ‘type-nest’, of this typewriter can hold around 2,450 pieces of type each marked with an individual character. This roughly reflects the baseline number of characters for Japanese students who complete compulsory education and so is a suitable quantity for a typewriter. These characters represent some of the most used Kanji as well as Hiragana and Katakana alphabets.

The operator would control this typewriter using two handles, one on the front of the type-nest, which moves it side to side to enable access to all the characters, and another which controls the main typing mechanism. Both of these components are on rollers to enable easy movement. Once the striker has been positioned over the required character the operator pushes down on the typing mechanism handle. This causes a pin under the type block to be raised, pushing the block into the striker. Then, a wheel of ink moves over the block before the character is raised and stamped onto the paper. These movements are then reversed and the character is returned to its original location in the type-nest. Contrary to Latin alphabet typewriters, this machine differs in that it types characters from top bottom, right to left, conforming to Japanese style.

Nippon Japanese Typewriter. Contains two levels of type consisting of characters from all three alphabets (Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji) as well as punctuation. The central top-level tray contains around 2,450 pieces of type. This tray moves side to side (using 1966-15/7). Lower level consists of two smaller trays of type on each side of the typewriter. These lower trays each contain around 440 characters. Curved panel at the back of the typewriter featuring white text on a blue background surrounded by gold decorative pattern. Text is a combination of Kanji and Katakana and reads ‘Japanese Typewriter’

While typewriters which use the Latin alphabet were popularised in the late 19th Century, the adaptation of this technology to work for languages such as Japanese took longer to develop. This complexity stems from the fact that Japanese uses three separate alphabets, Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. The largest of these alphabets is Kanji, which is made up of thousands of different characters. Although ‘kana’ (hiragana & katakana) typewriters had been created, the incorporation of Kanji proved difficult. Despite these issues, around 40 years after Remington began producing the first Latin-alphabet typewriters, Kyota Sugimoto invented the first Japanese typewriter in 1915. This was a highly significant creation and in 1985, as part of their centenary celebrations, Sugimoto was named by the Japanese Patent Office as one of Japan’s 10 greatest inventors.

This typewriter reflects Sugimoto’s original patent and was produced by the Nippon Typewriter Company. This model appears to have been made in 1920. It is dated in a traditional format, noting the ‘date of manufacture’ as the 11th month of the 9th year. This likely refers to Emperor Taisho who reigned July 1912-December 1926, meaning this model was produced in 1920. There is reference to changes in the structure of these typewriters in 1927 to incorporate elements such as a longer paper cylinder. This suggests that the date refers to 1920 rather than the 9th year of the following emperor, 1934. The patent for the original style of typewriter was first granted in Japan in 1915 and in America in 1917, so this object reflects a relatively early model.

The letter tray, or ‘type-nest’, of this typewriter can hold around 2,450 pieces of type each marked with an individual character. This roughly reflects the baseline number of characters for Japanese students who complete compulsory education and so is a suitable quantity for a typewriter. These characters represent some of the most used Kanji as well as Hiragana and Katakana alphabets.

The operator would control this typewriter using two handles, one on the front of the type-nest, which moves it side to side to enable access to all the characters, and another which controls the main typing mechanism. Both of these components are on rollers to enable easy movement. Once the striker has been positioned over the required character the operator pushes down on the typing mechanism handle. This causes a pin under the type block to be raised, pushing the block into the striker. Then, a wheel of ink moves over the block before the character is raised and stamped onto the paper. These movements are then reversed and the character is returned to its original location in the type-nest. Contrary to Latin alphabet typewriters, this machine differs in that it types characters from top bottom, right to left, conforming to Japanese style.

Green metal box with hinged lid. Contains around 880 Kanji characters for use with Japanese typewriter.

While typewriters which use the Latin alphabet were popularised in the late 19th Century, the adaptation of this technology to work for languages such as Japanese took longer to develop. This complexity stems from the fact that Japanese uses three separate alphabets, Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. The largest of these alphabets is Kanji, which is made up of thousands of different characters. Although ‘kana’ (hiragana & katakana) typewriters had been created, the incorporation of Kanji proved difficult. Despite these issues, around 40 years after Remington began producing the first Latin-alphabet typewriters, Kyota Sugimoto invented the first Japanese typewriter in 1915. This was a highly significant creation and in 1985, as part of their centenary celebrations, Sugimoto was named by the Japanese Patent Office as one of Japan’s 10 greatest inventors.

This typewriter reflects Sugimoto’s original patent and was produced by the Nippon Typewriter Company. This model appears to have been made in 1920. It is dated in a traditional format, noting the ‘date of manufacture’ as the 11th month of the 9th year. This likely refers to Emperor Taisho who reigned July 1912-December 1926, meaning this model was produced in 1920. There is reference to changes in the structure of these typewriters in 1927 to incorporate elements such as a longer paper cylinder. This suggests that the date refers to 1920 rather than the 9th year of the following emperor, 1934. The patent for the original style of typewriter was first granted in Japan in 1915 and in America in 1917, so this object reflects a relatively early model.

The letter tray, or ‘type-nest’, of this typewriter can hold around 2,450 pieces of type each marked with an individual character. This roughly reflects the baseline number of characters for Japanese students who complete compulsory education and so is a suitable quantity for a typewriter. These characters represent some of the most used Kanji as well as Hiragana and Katakana alphabets.

The operator would control this typewriter using two handles, one on the front of the type-nest, which moves it side to side to enable access to all the characters, and another which controls the main typing mechanism. Both of these components are on rollers to enable easy movement. Once the striker has been positioned over the required character the operator pushes down on the typing mechanism handle. This causes a pin under the type block to be raised, pushing the block into the striker. Then, a wheel of ink moves over the block before the character is raised and stamped onto the paper. These movements are then reversed and the character is returned to its original location in the type-nest. Contrary to Latin alphabet typewriters, this machine differs in that it types characters from top bottom, right to left, conforming to Japanese style.

Handle for type-nest on Japanese typewriter. Assists with the sideways movement of the tray to enable access to all characters. Threaded end connects to 1966-15/5.

While typewriters which use the Latin alphabet were popularised in the late 19th Century, the adaptation of this technology to work for languages such as Japanese took longer to develop. This complexity stems from the fact that Japanese uses three separate alphabets, Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. The largest of these alphabets is Kanji, which is made up of thousands of different characters. Although ‘kana’ (hiragana & katakana) typewriters had been created, the incorporation of Kanji proved difficult. Despite these issues, around 40 years after Remington began producing the first Latin-alphabet typewriters, Kyota Sugimoto invented the first Japanese typewriter in 1915. This was a highly significant creation and in 1985, as part of their centenary celebrations, Sugimoto was named by the Japanese Patent Office as one of Japan’s 10 greatest inventors.

This typewriter reflects Sugimoto’s original patent and was produced by the Nippon Typewriter Company. This model appears to have been made in 1920. It is dated in a traditional format, noting the ‘date of manufacture’ as the 11th month of the 9th year. This likely refers to Emperor Taisho who reigned July 1912-December 1926, meaning this model was produced in 1920. There is reference to changes in the structure of these typewriters in 1927 to incorporate elements such as a longer paper cylinder. This suggests that the date refers to 1920 rather than the 9th year of the following emperor, 1934. The patent for the original style of typewriter was first granted in Japan in 1915 and in America in 1917, so this object reflects a relatively early model.

The letter tray, or ‘type-nest’, of this typewriter can hold around 2,450 pieces of type each marked with an individual character. This roughly reflects the baseline number of characters for Japanese students who complete compulsory education and so is a suitable quantity for a typewriter. These characters represent some of the most used Kanji as well as Hiragana and Katakana alphabets.

The operator would control this typewriter using two handles, one on the front of the type-nest, which moves it side to side to enable access to all the characters, and another which controls the main typing mechanism. Both of these components are on rollers to enable easy movement. Once the striker has been positioned over the required character the operator pushes down on the typing mechanism handle. This causes a pin under the type block to be raised, pushing the block into the striker. Then, a wheel of ink moves over the block before the character is raised and stamped onto the paper. These movements are then reversed and the character is returned to its original location in the type-nest. Contrary to Latin alphabet typewriters, this machine differs in that it types characters from top bottom, right to left, conforming to Japanese style.