Sakura Color Products History: Cray-Pas to Gelly Roll

A row of Cray-Pas oil pastels and a white gel pen beside a Sakura timeline from 1921 to 2025 — Seven dates in Sakura's history, from a 1921 crayon maker to 100 years of Cray-Pas, as Sakura's Japanese records give them.

Key takeaways

Sakura was founded on May 29, 1921 as Nippon Crayon Shokai and renamed Sakura Crayon Shokai that September; it took its name from Japan's national flower.
In 1925 it developed Cray-Pas, which it calls the world's first drawing material to combine crayon and pastel, and renamed itself Sakura Crepas in 1970.
Sakura made Pigma, the first water-based pigment marker, in 1982 and the Ball Sign, the first water-based gel-ink ballpoint, in 1984; abroad the Ball Sign became the Gelly Roll.
Sakura bought the Dutch art-materials maker Royal Talens in 1991 and the Dutch pencil maker Bruynzeel in 1997; in 2016 Bruynzeel-Sakura merged into Royal Talens.
Sakura says it sells in more than 100 countries through about 90 distributors and has 1,600 group employees; Royal Talens calls it fully privately owned.

Sakura is the name on the Pigma Micron, the Gelly Roll and Koi watercolors, but in Japan it is best known for crayons and oil pastels for schoolchildren. Every date below comes from Sakura Color Products’ own Japanese pages and from its Dutch subsidiary Royal Talens, translated by us.

What is the history of Sakura Color Products?

Sakura Color Products began in Osaka on May 29, 1921 as a crayon maker, and grew into a maker of art materials and pens that credits itself with Cray-Pas oil pastels (1925), Pigma pigment ink (1982) and the first gel-ink ballpoint (1984). In Japan the company is called Sakura Crepas (株式会社サクラクレパス), after Cray-Pas.

It is still privately held. Royal Talens, the Dutch paint maker it has owned since 1991, calls Sakura fully privately owned, and Sakura’s profile lists 1,600 group employees. Our story on Japan’s stationery makers places Sakura among the eight big makers founded between 1887 and 1921.

Sakura timeline: 1921 to 2025

From a crayon workshop to 100 years of Cray-Pas, the dates below come from Sakura’s Japanese company history unless noted.

Date	Event	Source
May 29, 1921	Nippon Crayon Shokai (日本クレィヨン商会) founded in Osaka	Sakura profile and history
September 1921	Renamed Sakura Crayon Shokai (桜クレィヨン商会)	Sakura history
1922	Crayon-drawing exhibition in Tokyo, the start of a national school art show	Sakura history
1925	Cray-Pas developed and its trademark registered	Sakura history
1928	Watercolors; an all-season Cray-Pas formula replaces summer and winter versions	Sakura history
1929	Becomes a joint-stock company	Sakura history
1937	Seijiro Nishimura becomes president	Sakura history
1959	Sakura Color Ink oil-based marker	Sakura history
1969	My Name marker for labeling clothes	Sakura history
1970	Renamed Sakura Crepas Co., Ltd.	Sakura history
1973	Coupy Pencil, a colored pencil that is all lead	Sakura history
1982	Pigma, the first water-based pigment marker	Sakura history
1984	Ball Sign, the first water-based gel-ink ballpoint	Sakura history
1986	Sakura Color Products of America founded	Sakura history
1991	Buys Royal Talens of the Netherlands; opens the Sakura Art Museum	Sakura history
1997	Buys the Dutch pencil maker Bruynzeel	Sakura history
2000	Japan Patent Office Commissioner’s Prize for the Ball Sign ink	Sakura history
October 1, 2016	Bruynzeel-Sakura fully merged into Royal Talens	Royal Talens
2017	Paint factory in Vietnam founded	Sakura history
2021	100th anniversary	Sakura history
2025	Cray-Pas turns 100	Sakura history

How did Sakura start?

Sakura started as a crayon maker, set up by people who backed the free-drawing (jiyūga) movement in Japanese children’s art education. Its recruiting history says the founders established Nippon Crayon Shokai in 1921 and began making crayons, sold as Sakura Crayons; the company profile gives the date as May 29, 1921.

That September it became Sakura Crayon Shokai. Sakura says it put the name and image of the cherry blossom, Japan’s national flower, on its products as a promise to serve education and culture with the best quality it could make.

In 1922 it held a crayon-drawing exhibition in Tokyo, which Sakura calls the origin of a national education art exhibition. Its history names 佐々木昌興 (Sasaki) as the leader who retired in 1937, when Seijiro Nishimura became president; Shunichi Nishimura followed in 1940 and Teiichi Nishimura in 1981.

What is Cray-Pas, and why is Sakura named after it?

Cray-Pas is the oil pastel Sakura developed in 1925 to combine the ease of a crayon with the bright, blendable color of a pastel, and Sakura renamed itself after it in 1970. Its recruiting history calls Cray-Pas the world’s first drawing material of its kind, a “great revolution in stick paints”.

Sakura registered the Cray-Pas trademark in 1925 and patented a quick-drying solid paint for it in 1926. In 1928 it found a formula that worked all year, replacing separate summer and winter versions.

The company became Crepas Honpo Sakura Shokai in 1934 and Sakura Crepas Co., Ltd. in 1970, which it says honors the invention of Cray-Pas. It marked 100 years of Cray-Pas in 2025 with anniversary sets.

Did Sakura invent the gel pen?

Sakura says so: its company history calls the Ball Sign, launched in 1984, the world’s first water-based gel-ink ballpoint. Sakura says it controlled the ink’s flow so that it combined the water resistance of an oil-based ballpoint with the smoothness of a water-based marker.

The ink grew out of Pigma, which Sakura launched in 1982 as the first marker using an ultra-fine water-based pigment ink that does not fade or run with water. In 2000 the Ball Sign’s ink patent won the Japan Patent Office Commissioner’s Prize in Japan’s national invention awards.

Outside Japan the Ball Sign was sold as the Gelly Roll; Sakura doesn’t date the name, and Unsharpen gives 1989 for the US launch. Sakura’s product history says gel-ink ballpoints have since become the mainstream of the world’s ballpoint market; Pilot’s G-2, for one, followed in 1997.

Our guides cover the Sakura Gelly Roll, the Pigma Micron and the Pigma Brush, and our best white gel pens roundup compares the white Gelly Roll with its rivals.

How did Sakura become an art-materials group?

By buying European makers: Royal Talens of the Netherlands in 1991 and the Dutch pencil maker Bruynzeel in 1997. Royal Talens, founded in Apeldoorn in 1899 and maker of Rembrandt and Van Gogh paints, says it had been part of AKZO from the mid-1970s until 1991.

Sakura’s president’s message says the Talens deal made Sakura one of the world’s largest makers of drawing materials. Royal Talens says that after years of close cooperation, Bruynzeel-Sakura became fully part of its organization on October 1, 2016, and it now sells the Bruynzeel and Sakura brands in Europe.

Sakura also built its own network: a US sales company in 1986, a European sales company in the Netherlands and a factory in Shanghai in 1993, and a paint factory in Vietnam in 2017. Its recruiting history says Sakura sells in more than 100 countries through overseas subsidiaries and about 90 distributors.

Which Sakura products came from which decade?

Many of Sakura’s best sellers are decades old: Mat Watercolor from 1950, My Name markers from 1969, the Coupy Pencil from 1973, Pigma from 1982 and the Ball Sign from 1984. Sakura’s product history says all of these are still on sale.

Newer lines include the Arch eraser (2014) and the Ball Sign Knock in 40 colors (2015). Sakura’s Japanese timeline doesn’t list the Koi watercolors or brush pens it sells abroad; our Koi Pocket Field Sketch Box and Koi Coloring Brush Pen guides cover those.

Who owns Sakura Color Products today?

Sakura Color Products Corporation is privately owned and led by the Nishimura family; its president is Hikoshiro Nishimura. No larger group owns it, and Royal Talens describes it as fully privately owned, with headquarters in Osaka.

Sakura in turn owns Royal Talens and a set of Japanese companies, including Rabbit, an eraser maker, and Nikker, a maker of poster and acrylic paints that became a subsidiary in 2017. Our who owns which stationery brands story covers the groups behind other brands.

What couldn’t we confirm?

Sakura doesn’t name its founders individually or give a date for the Gelly Roll name. The 1989 US launch year comes from Unsharpen, not from Sakura.

Sakura’s pages also give Japanese names in kanji only; the readings of the Nishimura presidents’ given names are ours. Its company history lists one 1960s event as 昭和37年 with the year 1964, though Showa 37 was 1962, so we left that entry out.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Sakura called Sakura Crepas in Japan?

After Cray-Pas, the oil pastel it invented in 1925. Sakura says it took the name 株式会社サクラクレパス (Sakura Crepas) in 1970 because of that invention. Its English name is Sakura Color Products Corporation.

Was the Gelly Roll the first gel pen?

By Sakura's account, yes, under its Japanese name. Sakura says its Ball Sign of 1984 was the world's first water-based gel-ink ballpoint, and the ink patent won a Japan Patent Office Commissioner's Prize in 2000. Abroad the pen was sold as the Gelly Roll.

When was the Pigma pen invented?

In 1982. Sakura says Pigma was the first marker to use an ultra-fine water-based pigment ink, which doesn't fade or run with water but still flows freely from the tip. The Pigma Micron fineliner is its best-known form.

Who owns Sakura Color Products?

Nobody outside the company: it is privately held, and Royal Talens, its Dutch subsidiary, calls it fully privately owned. Its president is Hikoshiro Nishimura, and the Nishimura family has led it since 1937.

Does Sakura own Royal Talens?

Yes. Sakura bought the Dutch art-materials maker, owner of the Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Amsterdam paint brands, in 1991. Royal Talens says it had been part of AKZO until then and now runs as an independent business unit of Sakura.

Is Sakura the same company as Sakura of America?

Sakura of America is its US sales company. Sakura's Japanese history says it set up SAKURA COLOR PRODUCTS OF AMERICA in 1986 as its North American sales base.

Is Sakura stationery Japanese?

Yes. Sakura Color Products Corporation, the maker of Sakura stationery, was founded in Osaka in 1921 and is still based there. It makes pens and markers at its Kagoshima factory and art materials in Japan, China, Vietnam and, through Royal Talens, the Netherlands.

Sources (9)

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