--- title: "OHTO History: AUTO-PENCIL, Rollerballs & Needle Points" canonical: "https://stationerytimes.com/stories/ohto-history/" description: "OHTO's history from its Japanese records: Nakata Tozaburo's 1919 ink firm in Tokyo, the 1949 AUTO-PENCIL ballpoint, the 1964 rollerball, needle points and Yuki." category: "Stories" published: 2026-10-22 updated: 2026-10-22 author: "Ellis Penhale" publisher: "Stationery Times" sources: 10 organizations: - name: "OHTO Co., Ltd." country: "Japan" founded: "1919" brands: ["OHTO"] source: "https://ohto.co.jp/?page_id=1439" --- # OHTO History: AUTO-PENCIL, Rollerballs & Needle Points > OHTO began in Tokyo in April 1919, when Nakata Tozaburo founded Nakata Hokado to make dyes and ink. In 1949 it launched the AUTO-PENCIL, which OHTO calls the first ballpoint made in Japan, and in 1964 a water-based ballpoint it calls the world's first rollerball. It now makes tips, ink and pens in Yuki, Ibaraki. - URL: https://stationerytimes.com/stories/ohto-history/ - Category: Stories - Author: Ellis Penhale - Published: 2026-10-22 - Updated: 2026-10-22 ![A yellow pencil-shaped AUTO-PENCIL ballpoint beside a timeline from 1910 to 2030: founding 1919, AUTO-PENCIL 1949, water-based ballpoint 1964, the name OHTO 1974, ceramic roller 1981, needle point 1999 and GS01 2021](https://stationerytimes.com/images/raster/ohto-history-16x9.png) *Seven dates in OHTO's history, from Nakata Tozaburo's 1919 ink firm to the GS01, as OHTO's own records give them.* Original drawing (SVG): . Drawings © 2026 Stationery Times, reusable with credit under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ## Key takeaways - OHTO's company profile gives April 1919 (Taisho 8) as its founding; its English history names Nakata Tozaburo's ink maker Nakata-Ohka-do, Tokyo. - OHTO dates the AUTO-PENCIL, a pencil-shaped ballpoint, to 1949, and its English history calls it the first ballpoint pen made in Japan. - OHTO credits itself with the world's first water-based ballpoint in 1964, the pen type now called a rollerball, and a ceramic-ball rollerball in 1981. - OHTO's timeline dates its cut needle tip and low-viscosity soft ink to 1999, and its non-dry refill patent (No. 5371571) to 2013. - The head office and factory are in Yuki, Ibaraki, with branches in Tokyo and Osaka; OHTO lists capital of ¥45,000,000 (about US$285,000). OHTO is a small Japanese pen maker with an outsized list of firsts, most of them claimed in its own records. We read OHTO's Japanese company pages first: its company profile, its illustrated history timeline, the president's message and its factory page, and translated them ourselves, then checked them against OHTO's English history. ## Who founded OHTO? **Nakata Tozaburo (中田藤三郎) founded the company in Tokyo in April 1919 as Nakata Hokado (中田鳳華堂), a maker of high-quality dyes and ink.** OHTO's English history says he was a Ministry of Finance employee who invented a special ink he thought would suit banknotes; when the ministry rejected it, he went into business himself. OHTO's Japanese company profile gives the founding as April of Taisho 8, which is 1919, and the English profile says April 1919. The English history spells the first company Nakata-Ohka-do. A bust of the founder stands in the photo on OHTO's Japanese history page, and the company calls him the source of its "relentless curiosity". ## OHTO timeline: 1919 to 2026 **OHTO's history runs from a Tokyo ink maker to a ballpoint pioneer that now makes its own tips, ink and pens in Yuki.** Dates are from OHTO's Japanese timeline and news pages unless the table says otherwise. | Date | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | April 1919 | Nakata Tozaburo founds Nakata Hokado in Tokyo, making dyes and ink | OHTO company profile, history | | 1949 | AUTO-PENCIL, a pencil-shaped ballpoint | OHTO history | | 1952 | Improved, longer-lasting AUTO-PENCIL | OHTO history | | 1958–1960 | 0.6 mm ball for fine kanji; 1960 ink that writes over seal paste | OHTO history | | 1962 | Pencil-shaped retractable ballpoint, the first in Japan | OHTO history (Japanese) | | 1963 | First practical cemented carbide ball | OHTO history | | 1964 | Refill that shows the ink left; water-based ballpoint | OHTO history | | 1968 | Knurled grip | OHTO history | | 1974 | Company name spelled OHTO | OHTO English history | | 1978 | Rubber gripper on a pencil-shaped ballpoint | OHTO history | | 1981 | Ceramic-ball water-based pen | OHTO history | | 1990 | C-300 ceramic rollerball refill | OHTO history | | 1991 | Free Ink Roller pigment-ink pen, made in Yuki | OHTO history | | 1999 | Cut needle tip and low-viscosity soft ink | OHTO history | | 2006 | CERAGEL: gel ink with a ceramic ball | OHTO history | | 2013 | Non-dry C-305 refill patented; Fude Ball 1.5 | OHTO history | | 2017 | Flash Dry gel ink | OHTO history | | 2019 | 100th anniversary | President's message | | March 2, 2020 | Head office and Tokyo branch move | OHTO news | | 2021 to 2023 | GS01 (2021), CR01 (2022), GS02 and Ceramic Roller Gel (2023) | OHTO news, English history | ## What was the AUTO-PENCIL? **It was a ballpoint pen shaped like a wooden pencil, launched in 1949, and OHTO credits it with starting Japan's ballpoint boom.** OHTO's Japanese history says OHTO was the first to bring out a pencil-shaped ballpoint, turning a pen that had been expensive and prone to leaking into something cheap and practical. The English history adds the background: American soldiers in occupied Japan carried ballpoints, and Japanese people were impressed by how long their ink lasted. Nakata took note, and OHTO's English history calls the AUTO-PENCIL the first ballpoint pen made in Japan. OHTO's Japanese timeline goes further and calls it a world-first pencil-shaped wooden ballpoint, and the president's message says OHTO made the ballpoint practical ahead of the world in 1949. These are OHTO's own claims; we found no independent record that confirms or disputes them. The name stuck. OHTO says "AUTO-PENCIL" became a byword for the ballpoint in Japan, and that pencil-shaped ballpoints became the mainstream; the hexagonal capped office ballpoint is their descendant. The company took the name Auto (オート) from the pen. ## Why is the company spelled OHTO? **Because "Auto" made people think of cars.** OHTO's English history says the company realized in 1974 that the word was too closely associated with cars and changed the spelling to OHTO. The Japanese name is still オート株式会社, pronounced Ōto. ## What did OHTO invent? **OHTO's timeline lists a run of ballpoint and rollerball firsts from 1958 to 1991, most of them marked "first" in its own records.** The ones that matter most to today's pens: - **Fine balls and document ink (1958–1960).** OHTO says it was the first to make a 0.6 mm ball, fine enough for kanji, and in 1960 the first ink that could write over vermilion seal paste, which helped ballpoints win acceptance in government offices, banks and companies. - **The carbide ball (1963).** OHTO says it was the first to put the rust-resistant "super-hard" ball into practical use, the type that is now standard worldwide. - **The water-based ballpoint (1964).** OHTO's history calls it the world's first, and says its smoothness surprised people and led to the name rollerball. Our [gel vs ballpoint vs rollerball](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/gel-vs-ballpoint-vs-rollerball/) explainer covers the ink types. - **Grips (1968 and 1978).** OHTO says it was first with the knurled grip and, in 1978, with a rubber gripper on a pencil-shaped ballpoint, using two-material molding. - **Ceramic balls (1981).** OHTO's ceramic-ball water-based pen became the base of its rollerballs; its English history says a Ceramic Roller Pen (CB-10F) was used at the 1990 economic summit of the industrialized nations. OHTO's Japanese and English pages don't always label the same events. The Japanese timeline calls the 1962 retractable pencil-shaped ballpoint the first in Japan, while the English list places a "first in the world" tag next to it; we follow the Japanese wording. ## Did OHTO invent the needle point? **OHTO's timeline calls 1999 "the birth of the needle point": a needle tip cut from a single block of metal, paired with a low-viscosity oil-based "soft ink".** Its English history calls the Strong Needle-Point tip OHTO's original technology. That is the tip on the [OHTO GS01](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/ohto-gs01/), the [Rays](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/ohto-rays/) and the tiny [Minimo](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/ohto-minimo/). We didn't find an independent source to confirm that OHTO was the first maker of needle-point refills, so we report it as OHTO's claim; other Japanese makers also sell needle and pipe tips. ## What has OHTO made since 2000? **Mostly refills and metal pens built on them.** In 2006 OHTO paired gel ink with a ceramic ball (CERAGEL). In 2013 it patented a non-dry rollerball refill, the C-305, which OHTO says won't dry out even uncapped (Japanese patent 5371571), and launched the 1.5 mm [Fude Ball](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/ohto-fude-ball/). Flash Dry gel ink followed in 2017. The current metal pens grew from that refill work: the GS01 ballpoint in 2021, the [CR01](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/ohto-cr01/) ceramic rollerball in October 2022, and the [GS02](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/ohto-gs02/) with the Ceramic Roller Gel refill in 2023. In November 2024 OHTO launched the WN wooden pencils, including the [2.0 mm WN03](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/ohto-wooden-mechanical-pencil-2-0/). Not everything survives. The pocket [Tasche](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/ohto-tasche/) and the hexagonal [Dude](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/ohto-dude/) fountain pens are still sold by some shops but are missing from OHTO's current catalogs, which list only the FF01 and FF02 fountain pens. ## Where is OHTO based, and where does it make pens? **OHTO started in Tokyo, but its head office and factory are now in Yuki, Ibaraki, north of Tokyo, with branches in Tokyo and Osaka.** OHTO announced on March 2, 2020 that its head office and Tokyo branch had moved; the Tokyo branch is in Kita-Ueno, Taito-ku, and the Osaka branch in Suita. OHTO's Japanese factory page says the Yuki plant makes ballpoint tips, mixes ink, makes refills and assembles both general-purpose and metal pens, which it calls rare among Japanese pen factories. Automated lines can make about 30,000 general-purpose pens a day, and some metal pens are assembled by hand. The tip shop is the heart of it. OHTO says only a few factories in Japan can make ballpoint tips, and that it has made its own for half a century; its photos show a tip-cutting machine from 1961, for brass tips with 0.7 to 1.0 mm balls, beside newer machines that cut stainless steel or nickel silver tips for 0.3 to 1.5 mm balls. OHTO's English factory page lists its best-known products as made there: the Free Ink Roller pens, Ceramic Roller Pen and refill, Flash Dry gel ink and Ceramic Roller Gel. OHTO says the Free Ink Roller, first sold in 1991, is still its best-selling pen by units, mainly abroad. ## What is OHTO today? **A Japanese company that makes pens, refills and paper clips under its own name and for other brands.** Its Japanese company profile lists capital of ¥45,000,000 (about US$285,000) and names Tomoaki Kashimura as president. The profile lists three lines of business: making and selling ballpoints, other writing instruments and stationery; planning OEM, gift and promotional products; and selling pen parts and exporting pen-making equipment. Its paper clips, such as the Gachuck, are a second well-known line in Japan. OHTO marked its 100th anniversary in 2019. The president's message calls its motto "the history of the ballpoint pen is the history of OHTO", and our [Japanese stationery culture](https://stationerytimes.com/stories/japan-stationery-culture/) story puts it beside the bigger Japanese makers. ## What couldn't we confirm? **We couldn't confirm OHTO's "first" claims from sources outside OHTO.** The AUTO-PENCIL as Japan's first ballpoint, the 1964 water-based ballpoint as the world's first and the 1999 needle point are all OHTO's own statements, and we report them that way. The founding year is also given differently outside OHTO: Modulor's listing says 1929, while OHTO's Japanese and English profiles both say April 1919, which we use. OHTO doesn't publish sales figures or ownership details on the pages we read. ## Frequently asked questions ### Who started the OHTO pen company? Nakata Tozaburo (中田藤三郎). OHTO's English history says he was a Ministry of Finance employee who invented an ink for banknotes, and after the ministry rejected it, founded his own ink company in Tokyo in 1919. ### Why is the company called OHTO? It grew from the AUTO-PENCIL. OHTO's English history says the company renamed itself Auto after that pen, then switched to the spelling OHTO in 1974 because Auto sounded too much like cars. In Japanese it is still オート (Ōto). ### Did OHTO make Japan's first ballpoint pen? OHTO says so. Its English history calls the 1949 AUTO-PENCIL the first ballpoint pen made in Japan, and its Japanese pages say it was the first pencil-shaped ballpoint. We found no independent source that confirms or disputes it. ### Did OHTO invent the rollerball? OHTO claims the first water-based ballpoint, in 1964, and says the type became known worldwide as the rollerball. We found no independent source that confirms or disputes the claim. ### Where are OHTO pens made? At OHTO's own factory in Yuki, Ibaraki, which OHTO says makes pen tips, mixes ink, builds refills and assembles pens. OHTO's Japanese product pages mark most current pens MADE IN Japan. ### What does OHTO make besides pens? Paper clips such as the Gachuck, office tools such as ceramic cutters and letter openers, and refills, parts and pen-making equipment for other companies (OEM and plant export), per its company profile. ### Who runs OHTO today? OHTO's company profile names Tomoaki Kashimura (樫村朝昭) as president. OHTO marked its 100th anniversary in 2019. ## Sources - [OHTO Japan: 会社概要 (company name オート株式会社, president, founded 大正8年4月, business, capital ¥45,000,000)](https://ohto.co.jp/?page_id=1439) - [OHTO Japan: 歴史 (timeline images 1919 to 2017: 中田鳳華堂, AUTO-PENCIL 1949 and 1952, 0.6 mm ball 1958–60, 1962 retractable, 1963 carbide ball, 1964 visible-ink refill and water-based ballpoint, 1968 knurl, 1978 gripper, 1981 ceramic ball, 1991 Free Ink Roller, 1999 needle tip, 2006 CERAGEL, 2013 non-dry refill, 2017 Flash Dry)](https://ohto.co.jp/?page_id=1441) - [OHTO Japan: 企業理念・ご挨拶 (president's message: 100th anniversary in 2019; 1949 practical ballpoint)](https://ohto.co.jp/?page_id=1438) - [OHTO Japan: アクセス (head office and factory in Yuki, Ibaraki; Tokyo branch in Taito-ku)](https://ohto.co.jp/?page_id=1442) - [OHTO Japan: 結城工場 (Yuki factory: tips, ink, refills and assembly; about 30,000 pens a day; 1961 tip-cutting machine)](https://ohto.co.jp/?page_id=1447) - [OHTO Japan: home page news list (head office and Tokyo branch moved, March 2, 2020; GS01 2021; CR01 2022; GS02 2023)](https://ohto.co.jp/) - [OHTO (English): Our history (Nakata Touzaburo, Nakata-Ohka-do 1919, AUTO-PENCIL 1949, name OHTO 1974, timeline to 2023)](https://ohto.co.jp/global/about-us/our-history/) - [OHTO (English): Company profile (established April 1919; head office Yuki; Tokyo and Osaka branches)](https://ohto.co.jp/global/about-us/company-profile/) - [OHTO (English): Factory (Yuki factory: tip manufacturing, ink R&D, product assembly)](https://ohto.co.jp/global/about-us/factory/) - [Modulor: Ohto ballpoint pen Grand Standard 0.7 (gives 1929 as OHTO's founding year)](https://www.modulor.de/en/ohto-ballpoint-pen-grand-standard-0-7.html)