December: Shigetoshi Sakawa (now deceased) founded a letterpress printing company in the Okakeya shopping street, Honmachi 1-chome, in Yoshida, formerly in Kita-Uwa, Ehime Prefecture.

July: structure changed to limited-liability company.

Head office relocated to Honmachi 2-chome, Yoshida.

Uwajima office opened in Uwajima city, Ehime Prefecture.

Heidelberg automatic letterpress printing machine installed.

Heidelberg offset printing press installed.

Photoengraving equipment installed.

Letterpress machine replaced with phototypesetting machine.

May: Yoshida head office relocated to new building in Yoshida-Kouji.(now Yoshida Plant)

Matsuyama office opened in Matsuyama city, Ehime Prefecture.

Structure changed to publicly traded company.

April:Akira Sakawa (now deceased) became new managing director.
Matsuyama office relocated to new premises.

Heidelberg A2 4-colour machine, colour scanner and form printing machine installed.

September: Matsuyama office relocated to new building (present business premises).
Total scanner, computer editing system, Macintosh DTP system installed.

July: operations started from two central offices in Matsuyama and Yoshida.

November: Heidelberg A1 4-colour printing machine installed.

July: Ozu office opened in Ozu city, Ehime Prefecture.

• March: started taking advertisements as an advertising agency for the Ehime Shimbun newspaper.
• July: phototypesetting replaced with unified system of DTP and CTF.

July: high-speed internal network system (LAN) installed.

October: Heidelberg DI printing machine installed and on-demand printing launched.

July: multimedia department (now digital media team) established.

July: introduced networked business management system (MIS) "Print Sapiens".

• January: Masazumi Sakawa became new CEO.
• October: A1 compatible photopolymer CTP and DDCP system.
• November: online shop "Mikan-ya" opened

• April: quality management system ISO9001 certification acquired.
• September: A3 compatible thermal CTP device installed.
• November: Heidelberg A1 double-sided 8-colour printer and varnish coater installed.
• November: Kumanodai factory opened in Matsuyama (later Matsuyama factory).
• December: Tokyo office opened in Tokyo city.

• July: A1 compatible thermal CTP device installed.
• December: registered location of head office transferred from Yoshida head office to Matsuyama head office.

• August: Environmental Management System ISO14001 certification acquired.
• December: Uwajima office relocated.

• January: monochrome digital printing press installed.
• February: certified by Ehime Prefecture for excellence in sustainable business
• July: Seiyo office opened in Seiyo city, Ehime Prefecture.
• July: colour digital printer installed.

June: awarded Ehime Labour Bureau encouragement award for promoting equal opportunity in the workplace (positive action)

• February: Tokyo office relocated.
• April: permitted to display the JIPDEC "PrivacyMark" for businesses conforming to standards for protection of personal information
• June: "Happi happi" (traditional Japanese printed jacket) sales started
• July: sign & display business "Kanban-kobo" launched

December: started using non-treated CTP plates without developing fluid to contribute to a cleaner environment

• January: certified with "Clione mark" Gold Plus status for environmentally friendly printing
• March: approved by Ehime Prefecture for promoting use of public transport for commuting to the workplace
• July: approved by the Japan Institute for Women's Empowerment and Diversity Management as a business that promotes the improvement of the workplace climate for diversity.
• July: Kumanodai second factory added with improved bookbinding facilities.

• May: certified by Ehime Prefecture as a "parenting support company".
• December: awarded the "Visualisation Prize" by the Matsuyama Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the first annual "Our company's CSR awards"

• May: Uwajima office relocated.
• September: installed SCREEN thermal CTP for Japanese book format.

• January: awarded the "Visualisation Prize" by the Matsuyama Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the 2nd annual "Our company's CSR awards"
• February: Agfa Processless plate, "Azura TS" installed and fast-drying printing started.
• March: Tokyo office relocated.

• July: started producing television and radio commercials as an advertising agency for Nankai Broadcasting Corporation.
• November: "PIP studio" opened and video production started.

• July: aerial photography and video business using drone started.
• September: RMGT LED-UV A-format offset printing press installed.

June: Sakawa Printing video portal site "Ehime Doga" launched

• February: T&K TOKA powderless ink "Best-one kireina" introduced.
• March: Ricoh colour digital printing press renewed.
• May: "Iyo Marching Committee" launched for production of images of the local region
• June: First exhibition of "Hito-machi hyakkei" (100 views of the town) held
• July: Ricoh monochrome digital printing press renewed.
• August: awarded the Mayor's Award for clean-up activities in the "Matsuyama My Road" campaign
• September: acquired the "Kurumin mark" as certification of parenting support awarded by the Minister of Health, Welfare and Labour
• October: awarded the 2015 Ehime Labour Bureau award for excellence in the promotion of equal opportunity and balance between work and family (in category of equal opportunity and supporting women in the workplace)
• November: large cutting plotter, ZUND G3, installed.

• January: Heidelberg double-sided 8-colour printing machine renewed.
• March: published first issue of the free magazine to publicise Japanese fish culture from Ehime, "E no sakana".
• October: acquired Ehime Prefectural certification as "Ehime parenting support Gold Company".
• December: Toyo office opened in Saijo, Ehime Prefecture.
• December: Matsuyama main printing plant awarded "Green Printing Company" certification in offset printing category.
• December: started participating in the “Health and Productivity” program.

• March: jointly developed "Tough Map" paper, which is water-resistant and rip-resistant.
• March: commended as one of the "2016 Top 100 companies engaged in new diversity management" by the Ministry of Trade, Economy and Industry.
• March: received Small and Medium Enterprise Agency award as one of the "300 most promising small and medium-sized businesses/ small-scale enterprises".
• July: commended as one of the "2016 Top 100 companies engaged in new diversity management" by the Ministry of Trade, Economy and Industry.
• December: “Fish of Ehime” calendar exhibited in the 69th All Japan Calendar Competition.

• February: awarded the Ehime Prefecture Corporation Society Federation Chairman Prize in the 7th Ehime Prefecture Child-Rearing Support Leading Company Contest.
• February: “Fish of Ehime” calendar awarded the Gold Prize in the Inkjet category of the Agfa-Gevaert Sublima Printing Contest.
• February: recognised as an Outstanding Organisation in Health and Productivity Management (SME category) in 2018 as part of the recognition program established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
• June: “Fish of Ehime” calendar awarded Most Outstanding in the Calendar category of the 37th Ehime Advertising Prize organised by the Ehime Advertising Association.
• November: awarded the “Excellent Health Promoting Workplace Award” by the Japan Health Insurance Association’s Ehime Branch.

• January: awarded the Grand Prize by the Ehime Prefecture Corporation Society Federation in the “Women-friendly Corporate Culture Creation Contest”.
• February: recognised as an Outstanding Organisation in Health and Productivity Management (SME category) in 2019 as part of the recognition program established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
• October: awarded the Grand Prize and the Excellence Award in the “Matsuyama City 130th Anniversary Green Curtain Contest” (Office category).

• March: online shop “Mikan-ya” closed.
• March: manufactured and sold cloth masks.
• March: recognised as an Outstanding Organisation in Health and Productivity Management (SME category) in 2020 as part of the recognition program established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
• August: awarded the Mayor’s Award for clean-up activities in the “Matsuyama My Road” campaign.
• September: “Fish of Ehime” calendar awarded the Gold Prize in Creative Special Effects and the People’s Choice Award of FESPA Award 2020.
• November: joined the Matsuyama SDGs Promotion Association.
• November: awarded 2nd prize for the “Japan Regional Information Contents Awards 2020” in a readers’ poll by the free magazine “E no sakana”.

• February: 2.5D Real PRINTING “Tobe ware-style ceramic panel standing signboard” awarded the Gold Prize in the Inkjet category of the Agfa-Gevaert Sublima Printing Contest.
• March: awarded the Japan Federation of Printing Industries Encouragement Award for the 19th Printing Industry Excellent Environmental Factory Awards by the Japan Federation of Printing Industries.
• March: started Real-Shishu.
• March: recognised as an Outstanding Organisation in Health and Productivity Management (SME category) in 2021 as part of the recognition program established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
• April: started the professional-quality online broadcast system Stream DEX.
• June: launched the website for 2.5D Real PRINTING, which is neither 2D nor 3D.

• January: endorsed Zero Carbon Ehime.
• February: endorsed the Consumer-oriented Management Declaration by the Consumer Affairs Agency.
• February: 2.5D Real PRINTING “Painting by Hand (“Portrait of Andrée Bonnard, the Artist’s Sister” by Pierre Bonnard)” awarded the Silver Prize in the Inkjet category of the Agfa-Gevaert Sublima Printing Contest.
• February: started digital print wallpaper business.
• March: recognised as an Outstanding Organisation in Health and Productivity Management (SME category) in 2022 as part of the recognition program established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
• August: : “Real-Shishu” recognized in “Ehime Monozukuri Companies – Excellent Technology”.
• September: introduced color digital printer “Revoria Press PC1120”.
• December: awarded first prize for the “Japan Regional Information Contents Awards 2022” in a readers’ poll by the free magazine “E no sakana”.

• January: awarded the category prize (Category 2: Art) for the 38th Ehime Publication Culture Awards.
• February: “Work printed using 2.5D Real PRINTING technology” awarded the Gold Prize in the Inkjet category of the Agfa-Gevaert Sublima Printing Contest.
• February: started underwater shooting.
• February: launched the website for world-recognized texture printing “2.5D ART Printing” that stimulates the senses.
• March: awarded the Excellence Award in the Ehime SDGs Awards 2022.
• March: recognised as an Outstanding Organisation in Health and Productivity Management (SME category) in 2023 as part of the recognition program established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
• June: Toyo office relocated within Wakurie Niihama.

In 1657, when Japan was divided into feudal domains known as han, the Iyo-Yoshida han split off from the Uwajima han and ordered the Sakawa family to handle financial affairs (similar to the functions performed by the current Bank of Japan and the National Tax Agency) as well as money-changing. For over 200 years, until the han system was abolished in the Meiji Restoration, the Sakawa family supported the Iyo-Yoshida han's rule under the title of "Okakeya" (money-changers).

As a reflection of the history of the Sakawa family, the design of the Sakawa Printing logo features the weight used on han currency or money-changers' signs as the symbol for money. This "weight" is still used on maps today to represent banks; it is considered a symbol of trust, reliability and accuracy.

The symbol stands for our mission both within the company and towards our customers, as it represents our highest priorities: to be trusted by society, to build trusting business relationships with our customers, and to strive for accuracy in our work.

The money-changing scales handed down for generations in the Sakawa family, now part of the company logo (care of Uwajima Municipal Date Museum)

In modern Japanese history, three revolutions are said to have taken place. The first is the Meiji Restoration, the second is the end of the Second World War, and the third is the IT revolution and the spread of the internet.

In the Meiji Restoration (1868) the Yoshida han was abolished, throwing both the members of the clans and ordinary citizens into a new and unfamiliar environment. In particular, the merchants were dealt a heavy blow by the loss of their patrons and largest customers. As members of a special group of merchants who held both bureaucratic and commercial functions, the Sakawa family would have been among the worst affected. However, while other established families with reputations as wealthy merchants were reduced to a much lower status, the Sakawa family managed to avoid financial ruin – a demonstration of the family's pride as money-changers and their solid family tradition of self-reliance.

The task of making a new start in a radically changed era must have been a truly difficult one. However, the acumen shown by those ancestors in founding a new business as "ironmongers" was the basis for the continuation of the Sakawa family into the present. The Sakawas succeeded in this revolutionary era by following the family motto, "from generation to generation – yet original" which remains the dictum of the Sakawa family today.

The environment surrounding companies and organisations will always be in a constant state of change. It is therefore necessary to allow for this change when planning business and management strategies. When the next generation inherits a business that has long been in the family, the slogan "from generation to generation – yet original" reminds the new leaders that they are expected to take up the challenge of innovation.

After the end of the Second World War in 1945, Shigetoshi Sakawa (now deceased) founded a printing business. Due to the widespread damage during the war and major restructuring of the social system, the post-war period was marked by immense changes to society. For the Sakawa family, facing an entirely different set of conditions, the launch of a new business was particularly challenging. With the establishment of a new company in 1947 when he was already in his late forties, Shigetoshi was essentially starting from scratch – like post-war Japan as a whole.

In 1947, not long after the end of the Second World War, Shigetoshi Sakawa expressed the desire to work in a cultural field and spent his entire fortune by going to Osaka and purchasing a letterpress printing press. He established Sakawa Printing in the town of Yoshida, Kita-Uwa (now Uwajima city) in Ehime Prefecture.

Initially, the new company took orders for letterpress printing jobs in Yoshida and started to expand into the surrounding area. Although Sakawa Printing was the only company of its kind in Yoshida at the time, there was a large printing company in the neighbouring town of Uwajima. This was an obstacle when trying to acquire new customers, whose typical response was, "Why should I order from a small printing company from a small town?" This was just one of the many struggles that Shigetoshi had to face and there were times when he considered giving up his new business. During the period of reconstruction after the war when there was a shortage of goods, he had travelled all the way to Osaka to buy a printing press and fallen for sales talk, hampered by a lack of business experience.

The second-generation successor to Sakawa Printing, Akira, joined the company soon after graduating from university and started helping Shigetoshi. Committed to the expansion of the family business, Akira toiled day and night, working himself to the bone. As employee numbers began to increase gradually, the company expanded its business area by relocating from Nanyo, the southern part of Ehime, to the central Chuyo district, evolving into a printing company that could cover the entire prefecture of Ehime. Akira was also keen to adopt new technology and paved the way for digitalisation, starting with the transition from letterpress to typesetting, from typesetting to computerised typesetting and finally DTP; he built the foundations of present-day Sakawa Printing with platemaking technology and offset colour printing technology. It was his insight that brought the company from a small town to the prefectural capital, Matsuyama. Even during an era that prioritised economic growth, he took care to "ensure the consistent safety and well-being of the employees"; with this in mind he preferred German printing equipment, which was expensive but provided superior safety. As the quintessential founding father of Sakawa Printing, he also had a particularly strong attachment to the Nanyo region and a fervent interest in researching and publishing books about local history.

On 1 January 2000, Masazumi Sakawa became the new CEO of Sakawa Printing.

The company continues to follow the guiding principle "from generation to generation – yet original" – "continuity and change" – maintaining printing as its core business, while also expanding into new regions and business fields.