The history of ballpoint pen is the history of OHTO!
The history of Ohto started when Nakata Touzaburo, an employee of the Ministry of Finance, invented a special ink, which he thought would be perfect for use in banknotes. After his idea was rejected by the Ministry, Touzaburo decide to establish a company by himself, establishing “Nakata-Ohka-do” Tokyo in 1919 as a manufacturer of ink.
When the United States Army (that had occupied Japan after the World War II) brought ballpoint pens with them, Japanese people were amazed by them and their long-lasting ink system, since ballpoints did not need to be refilled as often as fountain pens. Nakata took note of this, and in 1949 Nakata-Ohka-do released the first ballpoint pen made in Japan, named “AUTO-PENCIL”. It also became the world’s first pencil-shaped ballpoint pen with chrome ball.The company also renamed to “Auto”.
In 1964, the company introduced ground-breaking ballpoint pen”W”using the water-based liquid ink instead of oil-based ink.
In 1974, the company realised that the word “Auto” was too closely associated with cars,
and changed its name to “OHTO”.
Throughout its history, OHTO has been known for introducing innovative technologies in writing instruments.
| OHTO products that have changed history.
| 1949 |  Pencil type ballpoint pen ” AUTO-PENCIL” Looks like pencil, but it is ballpoint pen. Instead of lead, it has chrome tip refill permantly fixed inside. [first in Japan] |
| 1952 |  Improved version of “AUTO-PENCIL” Assisted to widespread ballpoint pen in Japan. |
| 1960 |  Non-smudged ballpoint pen tip with 0.6mm ball along with document ink |
| 1962 |  Retractable type ballpoint pen [first in the world] |
| 1963 |  Ballpoint pen with tungsten carbide ball(TC) of very good preservation stability [first in the world] |
| 1964 |  Manufactured ballpoint pen refill with transparent pipe [first in the world] |
| 1964 |  Developed revolutionary ballpoint pen using waterbased ink, first in the world. This innovation added new product category in the ballpoint pen history naming it as ROLLER PEN. [first in the world] |
| 1968 |  Launched pencil type ballpoint pen having texture groove at the grip. |
| 1978 |  Introduced the rubber grippered ballpoint pen. [first in the world] |
| 1981 |  Introduced epoch making Roller Pen CERAMIC ROLLER PEN featuring rust free Ceramic Ball. * Ceramic Roller Pen(model CB-10F) was officially used at the 1990 Economic Summit of Industralized Nations. |
| 1991 | Developed pigment ink Water-proof/Fade-proof Free Ink Roller Pen. |
| 1999 |  Introducted single blocked Strong NEEDLE-POINT Tip [original technology] |
| 2013 |  ■ Ceramic Roller Refill C-305 is patented as Non-Dry Refill(Patent no.5371571)  ■ Introduced boldest Free Ink Roller Pen in the world FUDE BALL 1.5 |
| 2017 | Developed fast-drying Gel ink Flash Dry Ink |
| 2023 |  Launched premium quality refill “Ceramic Roller Gel” (Super-fast drying Gel combined with SiC Ceramic Ball) |