Nippon Gakki Co. Ltd. (currently Yamaha Corporation) was established in 1887 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha 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. Also, in 1954 the Yamaha Music School was founded. 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. 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 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. 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. Kemble & Co. Ltd, the UK piano sales & manufacturing arm was unaffected. 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, intended to take place in early 2008. Yamaha intends to continue manufacturing at the B?sendorfer facilities in Austria. 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. Yamaha Corporation is also widely known for their music teaching programme that began in the 1950s. Kand? (??) is a Japanese word used by Yamaha Corporation to describe their corporate mission. Kand? in translation describes the sensation of profound excitement and gratification derived from experiencing supreme quality and performance. Some reasonable English synonyms are “emotionally touching” or “emotionally moving”. Stated by the president of Yamaha, Takuya Nakata, Yamaha looks to maintain dominance above its competition through creativity and innovation.