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KAIGEN<<Japanese traditional medicine


Front view of the cold medicine “KAIGEN” package

Birth of Kaigen Pharmacy

Kaigen Pharma was founded in 1924, the same year that Koshien Stadium was born. Takegoro Nakanishi, the founder, opened "Nakaseibu Shoten, a drug wholesaler" in Kobe.


The cold medicine "Kaigen" was created around 1918 by Bunji Sawai, the owner of the Sawai Cross Hall drugstore in Hiroshima (later became the director and factory manager of Nakanishi Take Shoten, and was also called "Kaigen-oh").


Bunji got up in a naked and consistent manner, and created "Kaigen", which is a combination of Western medicine and herbal medicine, from his innate foresight, research zeal, and tenacity that is more than human. I met Takegoro Nakanishi when I was expanding the sales channel from Hiroshima to Kobe.


From Takegoro's desire to spread the hidden famous medicines and family medicines in each region to the world, he wanted to expand "Kaigen" nationwide. In 1933, it became a national monopoly. "Drug wholesaler Nakaseibu Shoten" handled and sold dozens of products from the main office from Tokyo to Kagoshima, but "Kaigen" became the center of this, and eventually "Kaigen" Has become the company name.


The etymology of "Kaigen" is quoted from the Chinese classics (Mencius's words), "reform as a sword" and "come as a source". Is expressed. It is a word that has been passed down as a basic attitude to those involved in "Kaigen", meaning "every day is new or new" and "every day is the beginning of the world."


Kaigen's media strategy

The appearance of the Fujin mascot was in 1982. His debut is a TV commercial. When I made the commercial, I searched for a shrine that worships the god of the wind. However, there is no characteristic shrine, and what I noticed is Tawaraya Sotatsu's "Fujin Raijin".


However, from the concept of a mascot, there was an opinion that it would be a cute character such as a unicorn, but instead of adopting a cute character, we made a strategy to make a strong impression on people. At the beginning of the commercial, many people may have been confused because they were afraid of children, but the image of "Fujin-san is the source of reform" gradually spread.


A few years ago, I made a cute character and now it appears in syrups for children, so you may see it at pharmacies and pharmacies.


One of the characteristics is the good scent of herbal medicine, as some people say, "This scent may cure colds ...". We continue to use "weighing paper", and the characteristics of the scent are utilized.


Kaigen production and ingredients

Nowadays, the machines in the factory can produce up to 280,000 packages a day, but until around 1967 (Showa 42), each package was folded by hand. The "weighing paper" of "Kaigen" is particular about "slip" so that you can easily smell it and powdered medicine can easily get into your mouth.


"Kaigen" enhances immunity by eliciting self-healing power of three kinds of crude drugs (Cinnamon, Ginger, and Licorice), and helps the body's natural recovery power. And Western medicine firmly suppresses the painful symptoms of colds and reduces the exhaustion of physical strength.


While valuing the goodness of "herbal medicines" that work on the entire body and gently improve from the ground up, we have fused "Western medicines" that quickly exert direct effects and suppress symptoms. It is a cold remedy that is effective against "heat", "cough" and "pain" and does not contain ingredients that make you sleepy. Kaigen Pharma's mission is to "nurture a future that is kind to the body and secure," and we will continue to work on product development.


・It is a cold remedy that does not make you sleepy because it does not contain antihistamines.

・It has a unique flavor because it contains licorice powder, cinnamon powder, and ginger powder, which are herbal ingredients that help recover from cold.

・Since it contains Western medicine ingredients in addition to crude drugs, it is a cold medicine that suppresses the symptoms of colds and works just right.




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