In February 1921, Shozaburo Shimano opened Shimano Iron Works in Higashi Minato in Sakai City at the age of only 26 years. On the little spot of a demolished celluloid factory, he rented a nearly 40-square-meter tiny area. The monthly rent was 5 yen. At that time, the new establishment had only a single machine, measuring about 1.8 meters long. He borrowed that machine from Sano Iron Works, because he was a good friend of its owner. By the time he founded his own business, Shozaburo Shimano had already decided to produce free wheels. Of all bicycle components, free wheels entailed the highest level of technology to produce. Freewheels have been very innovative back then and Shimano continued to innovate in the following decades.