The story of Kawasaki Company goes back to 1924, at that time involved into metallurgy and the aircraft industry.
In 1949, they decided to enter the motorcycle industry producing engines that could be adapted to motorcycles.
FIRST KAWASAKI MOTORCYCLES PRODUCTS Motorcycle Engines
In their line you could find a 60 cc two-stroke, as well as a 150cc and a 250cc four-stroke engines developed with technology from BMW; company whom with they had had relationships since their beginnings in the aeronautical industry.
It wasn't until 1954 that Kawasaki Motorcycles produced their first complete motorcycle under the name of Meihatsu (a subsidiary of Kawasaki Aircraft Co.).
Almost at the same time, they also tried to introduce their own line of scooters to the market, but they soon realized they couldn't compete against the two giants of the scooters industry for those days: the Fuji Rabbit and the Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon.
And now before continuing with Kawasaki Motorcycles history, I have to open a big parenthesis