A Japanese gentleman called Tokutaro Iizuka was the progenitor of the Hope outdoor brand, though it was initially called Iizuka Sports Goods Manufacturing when it began life back in 1928. The brand name Hope appeared somewhere along the way, and they quickly became famous for their forged steel ice axes with wooden shafts. They also produced the classic Hope Manaslu kerosene stove.

Hope went bankrupt in 1980 and we’re taking a guess the reasons included the fact that wooden shafted ice axes had become things of the past, and kerosene stoves had been replaced by various form of gas camping stoves.