Kokichi Mikimoto Legendary Designer And Creator Of The Cultured Pearl

Kokichi Mikimoto was the first son of an udon (noodle) shop owner in Toba Shima Province (Presently Mie Prefecture). He left his small one room school at the age of 13 to support his family working in the noodle shop and selling vegetables. Watching pearl divers in the Ise unloading their pearls, started his fascination with them. In 1888, together with his wife and partner Ume, he obtained a loan to start his first pearl oyster farm, in Ago bay in Mie Prefecture. On July of 1893, after many failures and near bankruptcy, he was able to create his first hemispherical cultured pearl. In 1897, at a marine products exposition in Norway, he introduced his new creations and started his export business. However, it would take until 1909, before, he could create spherical pearls that were indistinguishable from the highest quality natural ones and a large scale commercial harvest was not obtainable until the 1920s.

Kokichi would go on to secure three world patents for his work, the first in 1896 for producing hemispherical pearls or mabes. The second in 1908 for culturing mantle tissue and the third in 1916 to cover a technique to make round pearls in mantle tissue. However, Kokiche still had to overcome many setbacks, red tides and low water temperatures lead to constant failures. Kokichi would go on to overcome nature and even develop techniques that would make it his ally. Kokichi would now have to overcome his greatest setback, the loss of his staunchest supporter and much beloved wife Ume. At the age of 32 she was operated from what was believed to be an infected ovary and died three days later of peritonitis; leaving Kokichi alone to raise their 5 children. Ume did live long enough to see Kokichi produce his first semi-round Akoya. Kokichi Mikimoto would never remarry and go on to raise their five children alone.

From 1916 on Kokichi’s newly found technology allowed Japan’s cultured pearl industry to expand rapidly and in 1934 there were 350 pearl farms in Japan, producing 10 million cultured pearls annually. By 1935 Japan’s Cultured Pearl industry was suffering from oversupply and plummeting prices. Mikimoto now promoting his pearls in Europe and the US, publicly burnt tons of low quality pearls as a publicity stunt to show that Mikimoto only sold the highest quality pearls. In 1899, in the fashionable Ginza district of Tokyo, Mikimoto opened up its first pearl shop. Mikimoto expanded internationally and in 1913 opened up stores in London. After World War II Mikimoto opened up shops in Paris – New York – Chicago – Boston – Los Angeles – San Francisco – Shanghai and Bombay. However, contrary to scientific reports, Mikimoto had to constantly fight allegations that his pearls were imitations of real pearls. He took every opportunity to promote his pearls, including a 1926 Philadelphia World Exposition, where he displayed a Liberty Bell covered with pearls. During a meeting with Thomas Edison, Edison said that "it is one of the wonders of the world that you were able to culture pearls." Kokichi humbly responded, "If you were the moon of the world of inventors, I would simply be one of the many tiny stars." On the 21st of September 1954, Kokichi Mikimoto died at the age of 96. He was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Sacred Treasure.