Origin of the Eisai Logomark

1938

The logo of Sakuragaoka Laboratory Co., Ltd., the first of two predecessor companies established by Eisai's founder, Toyoji Naito. The Sakuragaoka Laboratory helped to usher in a new era in Japanese drug R&D, with innovations such as Juvela, Japan's first commercial vitamin E product.

1941

The logo of Nihon Eisai Co., Ltd., the second of the two predecessor companies established by Toyoji Naito. The Roman-alphabet spelling of “Eisai” used today was first established during this period.

1955

Eisai Co., Ltd.'s first logo featured its name in native katakana characters in addition to its romanized form; displaying a company name in katakana instead of Chinese characters was quite rare in Japan at the time. The logo was also redesigned to include an elaborately designed red-and-blue motif.

1967

The year after Yuji Naito became Eisai's second president, the company's logo was streamlined to a cleaner, more rounded design and the katakana script removed to reflect Eisai's vision for internationalization, leaving the Eisai Logomark much as it appears today.

Present

Eisai originally did prefer to write its name out in full, “Nihon Eisai Co., Ltd.,” using Chinese characters as was conventional in Japan at the time. The company continued to do so until it changed its name to Eisai Co., Ltd. in 1955.

According to records left by Eisai's founder, Toyoji Naito, there were three quite practical reasons for the change, and these had to do with Nihon Eisai's established but still growing popularity during that period.

Firstly, Chinese characters required more time and effort to write.
Secondly, with so many companies in those days beginning with Nihon (“Japan”), it could be quite tiring going up and down page after page trying to locate Nihon Eisai in the phone book.
Finally, the two Chinese characters used to write “Eisai” could be read as referring to “sanitation” and “materials” respectively, which potential consumers could easily assume to mean that the company only specialized in medical dressings and bandages as opposed to pharmaceutical products and R&D.

Colors

The red and blue colors in the Eisai Logomark represent red oxygenated blood flowing through the arteries and blue deoxygenated blood flowing through the veins. Both types of blood flow incessantly through the heart, and our task is to prevent stagnation of the blood flow by promoting good health and improving quality of life.

Form

The stage on which we carry out our corporate activities faces neither East nor West; it faces out in all directions like the Earth itself. The globe-like design of the Eisai Logomark represents the world, where our activities are awaited equally in all its inhabited regions. Our company's focus lies neither at the top nor the bottom of this world stage, but aims to find the middle path, a central perspective, and a wholesome coexistence for all.

The hhc Logomark is a separate logo that serves to embody the company's corporate philosophy, which we believe can be best summarized by the concept of human health care (hhc).
The script for the logo is modeled on the signature of Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), who is widely seen as having made enormous contributions to the development of the nursing profession and public health.