Success has a name
On December 19, 1950, in the small town of Yanai City, Japan, Hikosuke Tamasu founded Tamasu Co., Ltd. This was the beginning of a unique company career.
The company founder Tamasu was a famous Japanese national player in his day. When he fulfilled his lifelong dream half a century ago and turned his hobby into his profession, he had no idea that he would make Butterfly the leading brand worldwide.
How it all began (1946 - 1949)
1946 - The history of our company begins with a sporting goods store founded in 1946 in Yanai, 800 km west of Tokyo. After the end of World War II, table tennis player and our founder Hikosuke Tamasu resumed playing table tennis. In response to the growing demand for sporting goods in his hometown, he founds the Tamasu Sports Goods Shop
1949 - The company acquires land in Suginami, Tokyo (near the current headquarters) and establishes an office there. Hikosuke Tamasu wins the mixed doubles title at the All Japan Championships. After his victory, he retires from the sport to concentrate on his business.
The foundation (1950)
On December 19, 1950, Tamasu Co, Ltd. is founded and the "Butterfly" brand is born
Giichi Tamasu (left) becomes the first CEO and Hikosuke Tamasu (right) is appointed Executive Director. At the beginning, the company has 26 employees.
Background: After Mr. Tamasu returned from World War II and started playing table tennis again, for post-war table tennis, he was not satisfied with the current quality of Japanese rubbers, which led him to purchase foreign-made rubbers instead. Due to this situation, he decided that he wanted to create a high-quality table tennis rubber himself.
First successes (1950-1961)
In 1954, the first Butterfly racket factory is built on the site of our current headquarters. This is the first company-owned factory.
In 1956, the Tokyo branch became our headquarters). The construction of the Butterfly rubber factory and the head office are successfully completed.
In 1961, the factory in Tama is completed and starts operations and the first complete rackets called "Biriba" are launched.
The Game Changers (1967-1993)
1967 - The Sriver is here! The performance of the rubber was dramatically improved by using a highly elastic synthetic top rubber. The initial market response was less favorable than expected, but the Sriver gained popularity over time and established its position as a highly innovative product.
The factory in Tokorozawa, which is still in operation today as a production facility, is completed.
1972 - "Radial", the first table tennis shoe ever produced by Butterfly, is released.
1976 - Tackiness comes onto the market
1978 - Introduction of the Tamca 5000 series, Butterfly's first racket series with synthetic fibers.
1983 - The Butterfly Table Tennis Dojo is officially opened in Tokyo.
1993 - The Viscaria is released. Since its release, this blade has been the basis for many successful Arylate carbon blades and is still used today by a number of the world's best players.
Innovation (1997-today)
1997 - Bryce; the world's first High Tension rubber.
2004 - Founder Hikosuke Tamasu dies at the age of 83.
2008 - Introduction of Tenergy; the first generation of Spring Sponge rubbers.
2013-2014 - New blade and rubber production facilities are built.
2018 - Our new headquarters in Tokyo is built.
2019 - Launch of Dignics; the beginning of the Spring Sponge X generation
2020 - The Butterfly Table Tennis Dojo is renovated.
Supporting player individuality
At Butterfly, we firmly believe that every player is different and want to offer everyone the opportunity to support their playing style in the best possible way. Hikosuke Tamasu defined our company philosophy as follows: "Every player is different. Everyone has personal strengths and weaknesses. With our differentiated range of material for different playing systems, I wanted to ensure that everyone can emphasize their individuality as a player right from the start"
Our own research center
Butterfly has had its own training and research center in Tokyo since 1983. There, highly qualified scientists work together with world-class players and coaches to advance the technical development of rubbers and blades. It is therefore not surprising that Butterfly rubbers and blades have been preferred by more than half of the participants in world and European championships for many years.
In April 2006, the Butterfly Technology Center was opened in Tokorazawa. Here, research work can be carried out under the most modern conditions, our rubbers and sponges can be adapted to market requirements or presented as innovations.
In March 2013, the BUTTERFLY TEC was opened at the same location. More than 20 chemists, engineers and material scientists work with all their know-how and passion on innovations in the new, state-of-the-art research and development center.
Open the world
Mr. Tamasu was convinced that table tennis keeps you young and fit. He added: "Table tennis is a real lifetime sport, so it encourages lifelong exercise and is also ideal for older people." Today, we also "live" this conviction and take it out into the world. Butterfly maintains friendly relations with almost every country in the world. These friendly and peaceful relationships are very important to him. Because of his terrible experiences during the Second World War, Mr. Tamasu deliberately chose the name Butterfly as the company name, as it stands for peace, spring and joy.
In Germany for almost 50 years
Tamasu Butterfly Europa GmbH was founded in Moers (Germany) in 1973 and has been contributing to the company's worldwide success ever since. The subsidiary has almost nationwide sales representatives throughout Europe and creates its own collections of textiles, tables and other accessories. This entire product range is sold worldwide.
After the headquarters in Moers had been the hub of the company's fortunes in Europe for over 44 years, Tamasu Butterfly Europa GmbH has been based in Krefeld since 2015. This is where our office is located as well as the distribution facility for most of our products.
Support and collaboration with players
Timo Boll and Tomokazu Harimoto are just two of the most famous players who have made their way together, from junior player to superstar. You can find a detailed list of our contract players here. A team of professional coaches is constantly working to discover and develop more talented players.
Equipment development: The wishes and ideas of our players are very important to us and we work closely with them to optimize our equipment.
Everything to do with table tennis
Rubbers and blades are certainly our core competence. But we also offer a wide range of high-quality equipment in all other areas of table tennis, such as textiles, tables and other accessories.
Stores
We have 9 Butterfly Stores in Germany alone. Here you can drop by, get advice from our expert staff and try out our equipment on the spot. We are also always available for fun, such as a match at the midi or mini table. So just drop by.
Shaping the future
We want to continue to play an active role in shaping table tennis in the future. This includes sponsoring and working with associations, clubs and players to spread the word about table tennis and give players the best possible opportunities to develop and play.
On the other hand, we will continue to work on new product innovations in our technology center.
We believe in open communication. Every Butterfly employee is involved in planning the future so that we can utilize the diverse opinions and ideas for a successful future.