In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 1917
- Died
- 1993
- Birthplace
- Shikoku, Japan
- Country
- Japan
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Calculator manufacturing
Why this life matters
Making a calculating machine useful in ordinary offices required attention to the working environment as well as arithmetic. His career also makes the division between leadership, design and manufacture visible.
Timeline
Key moments
Workshop
Parts manufacture.
Product launch
14-A marketed.
Consumer product
Casio Mini.
Later role
Adviser.
From a workshop to a new market
Born in Shikoku, he moved to Tokyo in 1923 and entered machine-tool work as a teenager.
Kashio Seisakujo began in 1946 making microscope parts, gears and other items. A 1949 display of imported electric calculators prompted development of a relay-based machine.
This was a move from supplying components into attempting a complete office product. The workshop background matters because the venture needed parts that could actually be made, assembled and repaired.
The brothers and the failed demonstration
Tadao made parts from Toshio’s drawings; Yukio worked on improvements. Toshio and Kazuo took a prototype to Sapporo in 1956. Its wiring was disrupted during transport, and only some operations worked at the presentation.
Taiyo Sales withdrew backing. Uchida Yoko subsequently agreed to sell the calculator, and the 14-A reached the market in June 1957.
The company’s retrospective account makes this a collaborative recovery, not a straight line from one person’s idea to a finished commercial machine. Manufacturing, technical design and selling had different participants.
Sources for this section: [2]
An office machine rather than a laboratory fixture
The national science museum describes a calculator designed for ordinary rooms rather than cleanrooms. Its record identifies 341 relays and use in offices, securities firms and research institutions.
The 14-A combined a ten-key numeric pad with a single display for entry and result.
The interface and the environment were part of the product.
A consumer-electronics business and later life
The 1972 Casio Mini helped shift the business toward consumer goods. Watches and electronic keyboards followed. He relinquished the presidency in 1988 but remained an adviser, and returned to Shikoku for a factory opening in 1991. He died in 1993.
His later career belongs to a company adapting its products and markets. It should be read alongside the earlier workshop story, while keeping the other brothers’ technical and managerial work in view.
Sources for this section: [1]
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Tadao Kashio
- Who was Tadao Kashio?
- Tadao Kashio was a casio co-founder. Making a calculating machine useful in ordinary offices required attention to the working environment as well as arithmetic. His career also makes the division between leadership, design and manufacture visible.
- What is Tadao Kashio best known for?
- Tadao Kashio is best known for calculator manufacturing.
- When and where was Tadao Kashio born?
- Tadao Kashio was born in 1917 in Shikoku, Japan.
- When did Tadao Kashio die?
- Tadao Kashio died in 1993.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Akio Morita
Compare another electronics enterprise and its different collaborations.
- Kintaro Hattori
Compare another manufacturing career and the organisation behind its products.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Terry McCarthy / The IndependentObituary: Tadao Kashio
The obituary and selected corporate and institutional records were read. The autobiography quoted by the obituary was not read; no quotation from it is reproduced.
- 2. Casio ComputerSuccessful Development of the 14-A
- 3. Information Processing Society of JapanCasio 14-A: Historical Computers in Japan
- 4. National Museum of Nature and Science, JapanCASIO 14-A: science and engineering collection