Soichiro Honda biography: 13 things about Honda founder

Who was Soichiro Honda?

Soichiro Honda was a Japanese engineer and industrialist known for founding Honda Motor Co., Ltd., an automative manufacturer based in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. He was born in Kōmyō, Iwata, Shizuoka, Japan to Gihei Honda and Mika Honda.

Mika was a weaver while Gihei was a blacksmith with a bicycle repair business. Soichiro grew up helping his father with the business.

Soichiro and his wife Sachi Honda held private pilot’s licenses. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. In 1921, he moved from Shizuoka to Tokyo to look for work.
2. In 1922, he obtained an apprenticeship at a garage.
3. In 1928, he moved back to Shizuoka to start his own auto repair business.
4. In 1936, he quit racing after he raced a turbocharged Ford in the 1st Japan Automobile Race at Tamagawa Speedway in Nakahara, Kawasaki, Japan, crashed and seriously injured his left eye.
5. In 1937, he founded Tōkai Seiki to produce piston rings for Toyota. 
6. On April 11, 1942, Sachi gave birth to their son Hirotoshi Honda.
7. In 1945, his son Yasuhiro Watanabe was born.
8. In October 1946, he founded the Honda Technical Research Institute.
9. In 1948, he started producing a complete motorized bicycle, which was driven by the first mass-produced engine designed by Honda.
10. In 1973, he left his position as the Honda president but stayed as a director of the company.
11. In 1983, he was appointed Honda supreme advisor.
12. On November 17, 1990, he turned 84.
13. On August 5, 1991, he died of liver failure in Tokyo.