TAIHEI

Taihei (タイヘイ / Taihei Records) grew out of a Kansai-based company. Its predecessor, Naigai Chikuonki Shōkai, was founded on 10 Aug 1924 in Imazu (today Nishinomiya, Hyōgo), with contemporary listings giving Muko-gun, Imazu-chō, Kawauchi 193. On 5 Nov 1930 the firm incorporated as Taihei Gramophone Co., Ltd. (太平蓄音器株式会社)—effectively the start of the Taihei 78-rpm label, known for the shell (貝) trademark.

Taihei expanded in the 1930s. In 1935 it absorbed Nitto Records and Japan Crystal Gramophone and reorganized as Dainippon Gramophone Co., while keeping Taihei as a leading label. Production centered in Nishinomiya (Imazu); a new plant opened in 1938 in Imazu Yamanaka-chō. The company also operated a Tokyo-Ogu branch works and a recording office in the Imagawa-kōji Joint Building (later the Kudanshita Building). Releases continued into 1941.

On 1 Feb 1942, under wartime consolidation, Dainippon (Taihei) was absorbed into Kodansha’s group (the future King Records). The Nishinomiya and Tokyo-Ogu plants became King facilities, and Taihei ceased as an independent 78-rpm label. Postwar, former staff revived operations as Taihei Onkyō (1951), later Nippon Mercury (1953)—a separate, successor lineage.