Inabata Katsutaro established a dye store, Inabata Senryoten, in Kyoto in 1890 on his return to Japan from Lyon, France, where he had been sent as a student by the Kyoto Prefectural Government to learn state-of-the-art dyeing techniques, thus marking the beginning of Inabata & Co.
Inabata imported dyes, dyeing technology and dyeing/weaving machines, industrial chemicals, and pharmaceuticals from Europe initiating also instructions in advanced dyeing techniques in Japan.