Re: Magokichi Yamaoka, Yanmar’s Founder and its Museum (山岡孫吉とヤンマーミュージアム)

“Yanmar” is one of the world-famous brands of agricultural machines, the founder of which is M. Yamaoka (山岡 孫吉). Yamaoka was born in a small countryside of the Northern region of Shiga in 1888. After graduating from a junior high, he left his hometown for Osaka with an ambition to make his fortune for his family. After repeating ups and downs, he finally invented a small sized diesel engine for the first time in the world. Main factory of Yanmar opened in 1942 at the center of Nagahama, which was near his hometown. Through a robust business in the 2nd world war, Yamaoka expanded to manufacture engines for marine, agriculture and electricity generation, as well. And Yamaoka contributed a lot for commemorating Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel, German machine engineer, who invented a new-type engine named after his last name. That is why Nagahama (Yamaoka’s hometown) and Mr. Diesel’s base place Augsburg in Germany became a sister city in 1959.


Yanmar museum opened in 2013 near the Nagahama factory as the company’s 100 years anniversary project. The theme is “Do it, first. Don’t mind if you fail. Never give up!” There is “Challenge Area”, where kids (and Oyaji, like me) are motivated to enjoy a “challenge” through many experiences, together with “Exhibition Area”.

The Front of the Museum (1 of 2)

The Front of the Museum (2 of 2)

A Small Sized Diesel Engine Invented by Yanmar

In the “Challenge Area” of the Museum

In front of Yanmar-made Agriculture Tractor
In front of Yanmar-made Pleasure Boat

Magokichi YAMAOKA, the Founder of Yanmar

A Part of Nagahama Factory from the Lookout Platform of the Museum

  • Comment: 0

Related posts

  1. Re: The Autumnal Foliage at One of the Best Spots in Kohoku; Keisoku-ji Temple (湖北随一の紅葉名所、鶏足寺)

  2. Re: Camera Performance between iPhone (Series 13) vs Sony’s α6400 (iPhone 13 とソニー製一眼レフα6400のカメラ性能)

  3. Re: The problem that has annoyed me for a long time was just solved by such an easiest haphazard, with the lowest cost! (積年のイラつきが、こんな簡単なことで解消した…しかも最小の費用で…ラッキー (^^♪) )

  4. Re: I bought a new Smart Watch!

  5. Re: The Ritual Ceremony of Shinto Purification (大祓いの神事)

  6. Re: Walking Around Niu Valley in the Season of New Green Leaves (新緑の丹生渓谷を歩く)

  1. No comments yet.

  1. No trackbacks yet.