100 years ago, in November 1919,\nKYB\u2019s journey began. Shiro Kayaba was a gifted\nstudent who had earned a place at the prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo,\nentering the faculty of Engineering and Science. However, within a year he\nfound himself disillusioned, instead choosing to spend considerably more time\non his own research. Claiming his course to be \u201ctedious lessons based on an unbending\nversion of the past\u201d, Kayaba declared \u201cI want to work freely based on the spirit,\ninspiration and curiosity that I was born with\u201d. With that, Kayaba left\nuniversity, immersing himself completely in his own research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Already\nholding patents for his independent research, Kayaba secured vital funding from\na prominent businessman who frequently assisted promising Waseda University students.\nOn November 19th<\/sup> 1919, a 21-year old Shiro Kayaba opened the Kayaba Research\nCentre with 30 researchers. KYB\u2019s predecessor was born, and our journey had begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nResearch Centre and Kayaba himself quickly caught the attention of the Japanese\nNavy. He rejected their advances, preferring to stay at his Centre until the\nGreat Kanto earthquake of 1923 struck. Tragically killing over 140,000 people,\nthe 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck at lunchtime while people were cooking and,\nas a result, fires broke out across the area. The Kayaba Research Centre was\nburnt to the ground. Kayaba found himself with no choice but to work for the\nJapanese Navy, where his expertise in hydraulics would lead him to develop\nremote controlled hydraulic landing and take-off equipment on aircraft\ncarriers, as well as hydraulics for the aircraft landing gear to lessen the\nblow of landing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n