In 1949, Kihachiro Onitsuka founded the sports footwear company (Onitsuka Co., Ltd.). He manufactured basketball shoes in his living room in Kobe, Japan. He chose the ASICS name for his company in 1977 based on a famous Latin phrase "Anima Sana In Corpore Sano", which, when translated, expresses the old ideal "Healthy mind in healthy body".