History

Development of the Kao Crescent Moon logo

The corporate name, "Kao," originated with the name of the first product, Kao Soap, launched in 1890. Although the characters for "Kao" actually mean "king of flowers," the pronunciation is the same as the word for "face" in Japanese. High quality facial soap was called "kao arai" in Japanese to differentiate it from other soaps of lower quality used for other purposes. Originally selected because it symbolized beauty and cleanliness, the Kao Crescent Moon logo has been gradually revised over the course of time.

1890

1897

1912

1925

1943

1948

1953

1985