1894
Founded as a cotton-cloth wholesaler in Nagoya.
1912
Kowa Spinning Company, Limited is incorporated.
1919
Started spinning operation.
1939
Separated the spinning division from the trading division to establish the present Kowa Spinning Company, Limited.
1945
Branched out into the non-textile field to establish the present Non-Textile Division.
1946
Branched out into the optical equipment field to establish the present Electronics & Optics Division.
1947
Branched out into the pharmaceutical field to establish the present Pharmaceutical Division.
1954
Established Kowa Shinyaku Company, Limited.
2004
Kowa Shinyaku Co., Ltd. transfers their ethical drugs business operations to Kowa Co., Ltd..
2006
Nikken Chemicals Co., Ltd became a wholly owned subsidiary of Kowa Co., Ltd. Kowa Co., Ltd and Nikken Chemicals Co., Ltd integrated their ethical pharmaceutical sales division.
2006
Established Kowa Pharmaceutical Company, Limited.
2011
Establishment of Kowa Optimed Europe Ltd. with subsidiary Kowa Optimed Deutschland GmbH. Companies activities are focusing on providing high technology products manufactured by the Electronics & Optics Division of Kowa including medical equipment, lenses for machine vision and CCTV, sporting optics and latest LED technologies.