著者

増成 和敏

出版者

九州大学

巻号頁・発行日

2010

---

This paper summarizes the transition of TV design in Japan and the development of Kagu-cho style TV. When Japan imported the technology for TV from Western countries, they also imported designs. The consolet type with 4 detachable rounded legs, developed in the Western countries, became mainstream in Japan in the late 1950s. The Japanese console type in the 1960s had also 4 rounded legs but its design was not yet unique to Japan. In this period, the replacement demand constituted a large share of the demand for monochrome TV sets. Then, Kagu-cho TV was developed as a trigger for purchase. Behind the development of Kagu-cho TV in the mid-1960s was the modern Danish design. It was clear that Japanese Kagu-cho TV was not a follower of the American design considering the process of its birth. In newspaper ads at the time, the word “Kagu-cho” had been used before “Saga” was launched, and various manufacturers commercialized designs which expressed “Kagu-cho” style. The word “Kagu-cho” in the ads was one of the factors that created “Kagu-cho” design. At first, “Kagu-cho” didn’t necessarily mean Japanese style but later, “Saga”, whose name and design was Japanese style, was introduced with a big advertising campaign. The campaign created an image of Japanese style for Kagu-cho TV and made “Saga” its representative. The features of “Saga” were a projecting top board, speaker grille, the legs harmonized with the body and natural wooden texture. For the “Saga” series, various designs that differentiated from the 1st generation design were introduced. The design of “Saga” was influenced by “Asuka”. The reason why “Asuka” has an image of Japanese style is because the advertising campaign created an image in association with “Azekura-zukuri”, Japanese traditional structure. Considering the creation process of Kagu-cho TV in relation to design application, Sanyo Electric first applied patents for the design features that characterize “Saga”. Sanyo launched “Nihon”, a Kagu-cho style TV. This meant that behind the birth of Kagu-cho TV was the design trend at that period. To summarize, even though a design is created by an individual designer, the era and society is apparent in the background. Regarding TV sets, only the designs that were suitable for Japanese lifestyle survived among those brought in from the Western countries. Then Japanese manufacturers came to take into account design for product development and gradually Japanese unique design became more important. As a result, Kagu-cho TV emerged.