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Gary,
My Kojitu pitons are listed under the title Sapporo Kojitsu Sanso. Not sure how all of that fits in.

​From Gary Storrick:

• KOJITU SANSO is a general specialty store for mountaineering, climbing, and outdoor equipment. Founded in 1924, they still operate. See https://www.kojitusanso.jp/.
• Sapporo is the city where the axe was made. Sapporo the capital of the mountainous northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
• KADOTA is the ice axe manufacturer Kadota Iron Works. Kadota wholesaled products stamped with the logos of various climbing stores. Kadota Naoma (1877-1954) moved to Sapporo in 1922 where he opened his Kadota Iron Works, making agricultural products. They made their first ice axes in 1929 and closed around 1986. There is a longer story on my web page https://www.verticalmuseum.com/VerticalDevicesPage/Gear/GearPages/Ice/KadotaIce.php.

 
I hope that you find this interesting,

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Kojitu Sanso mfg mark

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Sporthaus Schuster 1967 catalog, Kojitu Sanso piton shows as item letter "G."

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Kojitu Sanso piton shown on ebay 2/2026

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