ものづくり日本大賞・特別賞

山下工業所

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Yamashita Kogyosho is 3D sheet metal forming specialists. For faces of Shinkansen bullet trains, our craftsmen curve, by hammering, aluminum sheets and weld them together. The aluminum instrument was made to show our craftsmanship at schools for recruitment.

 

3D Sheet Metal Forming Shinkansen (YouTube)

 

■MATERIAL / DIMENSION / WEIGHT
●MATERIAL：　Aluminum (A5083). All parts including peg, bridge and

                      tailpiece. The same metal for Shinkansen bullet trains.

●Dimension:  Same as the full size ordinary wooden cello

●Weight:  Approx. 10 kilograms (Madoka), 6.8 kilograms (Nozomi)

　　　　　　　7.2　kilograms (Nozomi-2), 5.5 kilograms (Hibiki)
■BASE MODEL

“THE KING” kept at National Music Museum (South Dakota, USA). “THE KING ” is known as the oldest existing violoncello, handcrafted in mid 16th Century at a workshop of Andrea Amati.  More information about “THE KING” can be obtained at

http://www.usd.edu/smm/Cellos/Amati/Amaticello.html

The first aluminum cello, Madoka, was displayed at the MONODZUKURI EXHIITION March 2008 held by METI at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Central Tokyo.

 

■SOUND OF ALUMINUM CELLO (YouTube)

Londonderry Air  Hibiki, 7 Feb 09 

J.S.Bach Prelude, Cello Suite No1. BWV1007 Hibiki, 5 Feb 09

J.S.Bach Menuet, Cello Suite No1. BWV1007 Hibiki, 26 Jan 09

J.S.Bach Menuet BWV Anh. 114 Madoka, 14 Jun 08

■Yamashita Kogyosho Co., Ltd.

Yamashita Kogyosho is a Special Prize recipient of the Monodzukuri Nippon Grand Award for its highly skilled metal sheet processing craftsmanship that contributed greatly for building streamline-shaped “face” of Shinkansen bullet trains.

 

Since its establishment in 1963 as one of the suppliers to Hitachi Kasado Works, the company has supplied faces of various types of trains including almost all series of Shinkansen, rapid trains and mono-rail cars.

Apart from the face, driver's cabin, which also requires streamline-shaped panels, has been supplied as well as other sheet metal parts for trains. Also sheet metal precision parts for semiconductor  production equipments are produced by the company for Hitachi.

The company is situated in the city of Kudamatsu, Yamaguchi-Prefecture which is the most western part of the Japanese main Island (approx 1,000 kilometers west of Tokyo).

 

For more information, please contact us at info@odeko.co.jp

 

■Articles about us:-

●リンク：　What do Shinkansen trains and cellos have in common?

●リンク：　Invention No.4 by J. S. Bach at the Sumitomo Historical Museum

The Voices of Aluminum, Aluminum　World

Sumitomo Light Metal Industries Ltd.,  Oct 2011

 

●A hammer -- yes, that low-tech tool helps mold noses of Japan's bullet trains
　　The Washington Post, Letter from Japan, 28 Mar 2010

 

●Magnesium Violins Created by Hammer

  Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Kids WEB Japan, High-tech 11 Mar 2010

 

●“Yamashita Kogyosho, Hammering the Shinkansen into shape”
　Highlighting JAPAN,  Aug 2009

 

“The Face of the Bullet Train”, The Backbone of Japanese Industry Pages 6 & 7 (Highlighting JAPAN,  December 2008, the Government of Japan)

 

3D Sheet Metal Forming Shinkansen (YouTube)

 

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▼International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun

　　15 March 2008