About Fukutaro’s logo:

If you study the history of local oil dealers during the Muromachi period in Japan (1336 – 1573), you would inevitably come across the name Saitō Dōsan, the managing director and man depicted on the signboard hanging outside the storefront for “Takemoto Oil.” It was the very same well-known samurai, Saitō Dōsan.

Oil peddlars are only human. As you might imagine, there are “good” and “poor” oil peddlers, as there are with any businessmen. Oil peddlers used to travel carrying oil barrels on a pole over their shoulder and pour the oil into customers’ lamps using a ladle. When measuring the oil, it was often thick, stringy, and difficult to separate. The oil peddlar and customer would often make small talk until the oil was fully poured. This historical tidbit is well-known among Japanese as the origin of the Japanese proverb 湯を売る yu o uru (lit. “selling oil”), meaning “to chat about trivial matters while ignoring your work.”

Oil was extracted by hand from rapeseed at that time and only sold by traveling salesmen. It was an utterly inefficient business. It’s said that a “good” oil peddler would ensure that oil would never run out by using an upright barrel and ladle.

The scale is the universal symbol for accuracy and honesty all over the world. With this in mind, Fukutaro designed its logo with a scale and two upright oil barrels to represent the Japanese character 百 hyaku, or one hundred. Fukutaro has been guided by the principles of accuracy and honesty as reflected in our logo for the last hundred years and the next hundred years to come.