Koetsu History
Named in honor of the Japanese artist Honami Koetsu, the company was started by Yoshiaki Sugano. A boxer, artist, sword maker and automotive executive, Sugano-san was a true renaissance man. His love of western classical music led him on a journey to improve the musicality of common phono cartridges. Through his experimentation he pioneered the use of high purity materials such as 6N copper and rare platinum iron magnets.
For more than thirty-years, Koetsu has masterfully blended the highest purity technical materials with ones of natural beauty to create the most sought after cartridges in the world.
Sugano-San's legacy was carried on by his son Fumihiko who apprenticed under his father to become a master cartridge maker. Every Koetsu cartridge was hand made in Japan and inherently limited in nature.
Sadly, Fumihiko Sugano passed away in 2023 at the age of 82.
物の哀れ
In the spirit of mono no aware — the beauty found in impermanence — the Koetsu story, as shaped by the hands of Yoshiaki and Fumihiko Sugano, has reached its natural close. With their passing, and with the family’s decision not to be involved in production, each Koetsu cartridge remains as a finite expression of their artistry, forever bound to the moments they were created to reveal.