Shibusawa Eiichi

Shibusawa Eiichi, 1st Viscount Shibusawa (渋沢 栄一, March 16, 1840 – November 11, 1931) was a Japanese industrialist widely known today as the "father of Japanese capitalism", having introduced Western capitalism to Japan after the Meiji Restoration. He introduced many economic reforms including use of double-entry accounting, joint-stock corporations and modern note-issuing banks.

Viscount Shibusawa Eiichi Senior Second Rank
渋沢 栄一
Born	(1840-03-16)March 16, 1840 Chiaraijima, Hanzawa district, Musashi Province, Tokugawa Shogunate (now Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture)
Died	November 11, 1931(1931-11-11) (aged 91) Motonishigahara, Takinogawa Ward, Kitatoshima District, Tokyo, Empire of Japan (now Nishigahara, Kita Ward, Tokyo)
Occupations	Shogun's retainer bureaucrat businessman philanthropist politician
Spouses	Odaka Chiyo ​ ​ (m. 1858; died 1882)​ Kaneko ​ (after 1883)​
Children	Tokuji Shibusawa, Masao Shibusawa
Honours	Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure 4th Class Grand Order of the Order of the Rising Sun with Pauwlonia Flowers

In this Japanese name, the surname is Shibusawa.

Shibusawa Eiichi, 1st Viscount Shibusawa in New York City in 1915

He founded the first modern bank based on joint stock ownership in Japan. The bank was aptly named The First National Bank (Dai Ichi Kokuritsu Ginkō, now merged into Mizuho Bank) and had the power to issue its own notes. Through this bank, he founded hundreds of other joint stock corporations in Japan. Many of these companies still survive to this day as quoted companies in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which Shibusawa also founded. The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry was founded by him as well. He was also involved in the foundation of many hospitals, schools, universities (including the first women's university), the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo and charitable organizations including the Japan Red Cross.

Another notable aspect of Shibusawa's career is that, despite being the founder of hundreds of corporations, he refused to maintain a controlling stake in these corporations, effectively preventing himself from forming a zaibatsu. What is known as the Shibusawa zaibatsu was a holding company to look after his estate for his family. The Shibusawa Zaibatsu did not hold any controlling stake in any companies. Despite his humble origin as a farmer, he was granted the title of Viscount, while all other zaibatsu founders were awarded the title of Baron. He was also awarded Shōnii, Second Honour under the ritsuryō rank system, which is usually given to high-ranking nobility and prime ministers.

Shibusawa is featured on the 10,000 Japanese yen note, one of the new designs that went into circulation on 3 July 2024. Shibusawa was also printed on bank notes issued by the Korea First Bank, which he owned, in 1902. The choice of Shibusawa has previously been criticised in the Republic of Korea.

Biography

Shibusawa pictured here wearing two swords, a privilege usually reserved for the samurai class, but a privilege also occasionally given to wealthy peasant families like his

Shibusawa Eiichi, before 1913

Shibusawa was born on March 16, 1840, in a farmhouse in Chiaraijima (located in the present-day city of Fukaya in Saitama Prefecture). As a boy, he learned reading and writing from his father. He grew up helping with the family business of dry field farming, indigo production and sale, and silk raising and later studied the Confucian classics and the history of Japan under Odaka Junchu, a scholar who was his cousin.

Under the influence of sonnō jōi (expel the barbarians; revere the emperor) sentiment, he formulated a plan along with cousins and friends to capture Takasaki Castle and set fires in the foreign settlement in Yokohama. Ultimately, however, this plan was canceled and he moved on to Kyoto.

Shibusawa left his hometown at the age of twenty-three, and entered the service of Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu (then in line for the position of shōgun). He distinguished himself by his work in strengthening the household finances of the Hitotsubashi family.

When he was twenty-seven years old, he visited France and other European countries as a member of Tokugawa Akitake's delegation to the Exposition Universelle (1867). On this trip Shibusawa observed modern European societies and cultures for the first time, and realized the importance of industrial and economic development.

After returning from Europe at the news of the change of governments now known as the Meiji Restoration, he established the Shōhō Kaishō, one of the first joint-stock companies in Japan, in Shizuoka Prefecture. Afterwards, he was invited by the Meiji government to become a member of the Ministry of Finance, where he became a driving force in the building of a modern Japan as head of the Kaisei Kakari, or office of the Ministry of Finance in charge of reform.

In 1873 Shibusawa resigned from the Ministry of Finance and became the president of the Dai-Ichi Bank (First National Bank). This was Japan's first modern bank, established under his own guidance while still employed by the Ministry of Finance. With this bank as a base, Shibusawa devoted himself to founding and encouraging businesses of all sorts.

Shibusawa was an advocate throughout his life of the idea that good ethics and business should be in harmony. The number of enterprises in which he was involved as founder or supporter is said to exceed five hundred, and includes Mizuho Financial Group, The 77 Bank, Tokio Marine Nichido, Imperial Hotel, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Tokyo Gas, Toyobo, Tokyu Corporation, Keihan Electric Railway, Taiheiyo Cement, Oji Paper Company, Sapporo Breweries, NYK Line, and the Gyeongin Railway and the Gyeongbu Railway in Korea. He was president of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce. Moreover, he spearheaded many works for the betterment of society, and was an enthusiastic supporter of education, especially higher education in the field of business such as current Hitotsubashi University and current Tokyo Keizai University, higher education for women, and private schools. Shibusawa involved himself in some 600 projects related to education, social welfare and others. In addition, Shibusawa made efforts to promote the exchange of goods and good will across national boundaries through private-sector diplomacy. In 1902 he visited Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

In 1908, Baron Shibusawa and members of the Mitsui & Company, along with other Japanese business leaders greeted the first official U.S. Business delegation to visit Japan. This U.S. delegation was led by Frank A. Vanderlip accompanied by sixty members of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of the Pacific Coast, a business organization founded prior to U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Eiichi Shibusawa had invited these U.S. representatives to visit Japan to bridge their nations diplomatically and to promote increased business and commerce.

Shibusawa died at the age of ninety-one on November 11, 1931.

Honors

• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (24 August 1911) (Fourth Class: 19 July 1892)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers (10 November 1928)
• Senior Second Rank (November 10, 1931)

The Nobel Prize

Shibusawa was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926 by the prime minister of Japan.

In fiction

Shibusawa Eiichi, mainly portrayed by Ryo Yoshisawa, is the main protagonist in the 60th Taiga Drama, Reach Beyond The Blue Sky, aired during 2021 on NHK.

Shibusawa, along with many other famous historical figures from the Meiji Restoration, is also a supporting character in the historical fantasy novel Teito Monogatari by Aramata Hiroshi. In the 1988 adaptation, known in the west as Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis, he is portrayed by renowned Japanese actor Katsu Shintarō. In the animated adaptation his voice is done by Osamu Saka.

Baron Shibusawa is highlighted in the historical novel The Emperor and the Spy by Stan S. Katz. During the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, Baron Shibusawa is shown actively engaged in assisting many of the Japanese who were injured during that major disaster. The friendship between Baron Shibusawa and Prince Iesato Tokugawa is also presented in this novel.

See also

Members of the Capital Restoration Board after 1923 Great Kantō earthquake: from left, Shibusawa, Count Itō Miyoji, Baron Katō Takaaki

• Reach Beyond The Blue Sky
• Japanese friendship dolls
• Keizo Shibusawa
• Suematsu Kenchō

Further reading

• Fridenson, Patrick; Takeo, Kikkawa (2017). Ethical Capitalism: Shibusawa Eiichi and Business Leadership in Global Perspective. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division. p. 232. ISBN 9781487501068.
• Hirschmeier, Johannes. Origins of Entrepreneurship in Meiji Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964.
• Katz, Stan S. The Art of Peace, an illustrated biography highlighting Prince Iyesato Tokugawa and Baron Eiichi Shibusawa.. (2019) ISBN 978-0-9903349-2-7
• Sagers, John. "Shibusawa Eiichi and the Merger of Confucianism and Capitalism in Modern Japan", in Education about Asia, Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Asian Studies, Winter 2014. online
• Sagers, John H. Confucian Capitalism: Shibusawa Eiichi, Business Ethics, and Economic Development in Meiji Japan. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
• Sagers, John H. "Shibusawa Eiichi, Dai Ichi Bank, and the Spirit of Japanese Capitalism, 1860–1930". Shashi 3, no. 1 (2014). doi:10.5195/shashi.2014.24. online
• Shimada, Masakazu (2017). The Entrepreneur Who Built Modern Japan: Shibusawa Eiichi. Tokyo: Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture.
• Shimada, Masakazu. "How Eiichi Shibusawa offered models of investment and management to introduce modern business practices into Japan." Japanese Yearbook on Business History 19 (2003): 9-31. online

Primary sources

• Shibusawa, Eiichi, and Teruko Craig. The autobiography of Shibusawa Eiichi: from peasant to entrepreneur (University of Tokyo Press, 1994).

External links

• Shibusawa Eiichi at Find a Grave
• Shibusawa, Eiichi at National Diet Library, Japan