"One-of-a-Kind" Story
1915 Hayakawa Ever - Sharp Pencil

Tokuji Hayakawa invented a pencil that uses replaceable lead cores to stay sharp all the time.
The product wasn’t warmly received in Japan at first, with people saying things like the metal casing would feel too cold in winter and the pencil doesn’t look good with Japanese clothing.
However, the product was a monster hit in the US and Europe and Hayakawa received huge orders from trading companies.
This fueled the popularity of this pencil, and soon Japanese distributors were inquiring about it.
The product was called the Ever-Sharp Pencil, and later shortened to just Sharp pencil.
This is the origin of the company name.