●●● high
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (A). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
HERALBONY: “Unleash your difference.” — IP licensing of art by people with intellectual disabilities. The twins Takaya and Fumito Matsuda have an older brother, Shota, four years their senior, who has autism with a severe intellectual disability. Having played together since childhood, they were told by a relative, “You twins must live your hardest for your brother's sake too” — and that discomfort of “being labeled the moment one becomes ‘disabled'” is the origin. At 25, Takaya was struck by art by people with intellectual disabilities at the Rumbini Art Museum in Hanamaki, Iwate, and became convinced that, combined with the IP business, “people with disabilities can compete within the capitalist economy too.” In 2018 the two quit their jobs and founded HERALBONY. Today they manage as IP the works of mainly 153 artists with intellectual disabilities (over 2,000 pieces), returning royalties at stated rates — 50% of the sale price for originals, 30% for data use, 3–5% for apparel. Under the banner “unleash your difference,” they place at the center the creation of a new culture starting from welfare. The letter is A; certainty is high. (As of 2026-Q2; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
The twins Takaya and Fumito Matsuda have an older brother, Shota, four years their senior, who has autism with a severe intellectual disability. Having played together since childhood, they were told by a relative, “You twins must live your hardest for your brother's sake too” — and that discomfort of “being labeled the moment one becomes ‘disabled'” is the origin. At 25, Takaya was struck by art by people with intellectual disabilities at the Rumbini Art Museum in Hanamaki, Iwate, and became convinced that, combined with the IP business, “people with disabilities can compete within the capitalist economy too.”
In 2018 the two quit their jobs and founded HERALBONY. Today they manage as IP the works of mainly 153 artists with intellectual disabilities (over 2,000 pieces), returning royalties at stated rates — 50% of the sale price for originals, 30% for data use, 3–5% for apparel. Under the banner “unleash your difference,” they place at the center the creation of a new culture starting from welfare.
One person’s story (N1)
+ before → after
In December 2019, art by Kira Yaegashi, an artist with Down syndrome, colored the 164 window panes of JR Hanamaki Station like stained glass. The local paper Iwate Nippo reported it not as “a person with a disability” but as “an artist colors Hanamaki Station.” Family and facility staff alike rejoiced at that one word. From another artist's family came a letter: “This year I had ¥4 million in income, so I'll file a tax return. The joke that we might be supported by (our child) may become reality.” In a world where wages of about ¥16,000 a month had been the norm, this was a quiet revolution.
Source nature: nippon.com / 岩手日報 / P2 major media. Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- The two co-founders were selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 Japan (2019). The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) also featured it as a good case of IP × disability.P1 cert/award/academic/international body / Forbes / WIPO / METI Journal
− effects (confirmed)
- No confirmed −.
Nothing of note at present.
A second look
How to keep, over the long term, the return of licensing revenue to artists in balance with brand growth.
Sources
How to read this assessment
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the story an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q2 | Back to top