Shibusawa Eiichi, 1st Viscount Shibusawa in New York City in 1915
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.[2]
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.[2]
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.[3] Shibusawa was also printed on bank notes issued by the Korea First Bank, which he owned, in 1902.[4][unreliable source?][5] The choice of Shibusawa has previously been criticised in South Korea.[6][7]
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 hisShibusawa 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.
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.[10]
Shibusawa died at the age of ninety-one on November 11, 1931.
Baron Shibusawa is highlighted in the historical novel The Emperor and the Spy[12] 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.
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. ISBN9781487501068.
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) ISBN978-0-9903349-2-7
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. "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).
