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Daimatsu First Line (print casting)

Last Updated May 8, 2023

Daimatsu's first Meister face photo

Daimatsu First Line (Omatsu Hatsuyuki)
Type casting

Fiscal 2022 Selection (27th term)
Lives and works in Hodogaya Ward

Born in 1944, from Nagasaki Prefecture
Joined Tsukiji Printing Co., Ltd., the predecessor of Tsukiji Printing Co., Ltd.

Sales are talking to people, casting is talking to machines.

　"If you think you're right, you can do that kind of type, and if you want to do it properly, you can do that kind of type. It was fun that my heart moved to the machine, it came out as a type, and it went out to society and sold." Omatsu says. Especially when you feel a sense of accomplishment, when you are casting an alphabet. Unlike kanji that contains characters in a square, the casting of the alphabet has different widths for each character, such as "W" with a wide width and "I". For this reason, we will adjust the settings of each type casting machine and check the cast metal type repeatedly and repeatedly manufacture it.
　The metal print produced by Mr. Omatsu is mainly sold to print printing companies, but it is also used in print products for the general public, such as "print perennial calendar" and "print holders". In addition, we are focusing on activities to convey the technology, charm, and history of type casting, such as conducting one-day hands-on sessions and type casting and basic courses at business sites.

Meister's skill

Daimatsu's first Meister is working

　Printing, one of the printing methods, has been attracting attention again in recent years because the physical irregularities formed by contact with paper during printing and the unevenness of ink bring a unique texture. The character used for this type printing is "metal print".
　The metallic material is the metal of lead, tin, and antimony, and the temperature before applying it to the mother shape of the letter reaches 350-400 degrees and then cooled with water. Mr. Omatsu carefully adjusts the settings of the type casting machine while giving consideration to safety, and visually and hand-in-hand checks whether the size and center of the cast metal casting are the same.
　In addition, many years of experience has been utilized in the maintenance of print casting machines manufactured in the middle of the Showa era.

Profile

Image of type casting machine
Type casting machine

After graduating from high school, he joined Tsukiji Publishing Co., Ltd. in 1963, the predecessor of Tsukiji Printing Co., Ltd. After experiencing selection (working to pick up cast prints from a large amount of inventory) and sales, he was assigned to the casting department. After that, he worked on typographic printing for many years, as well as printing.

An image of a tool that checks the size of the type and the position of the characters. Tools to check the size of the type and the position of the characters