Historia de yataro iwasaki biography
Origin
The History of Mitsubishi Pioneered by Four Presidents
The origin of Mitsubishi goes back to 1870 when the founder, Yataro Iwasaki, started a shipping firm with three aging steamships. Yataro's brother, son and nephew expanded the business into various fields during their respective terms as president and set the foundation of the Mitsubishi companies. After WWII, the original Mitsubishi organization was disbanded to become the independent companies they are today.
Founder of Mitsubishi（1870-1885）
Yataro Iwasaki
An entrepreneur who
demonstrated
strong leadership
Establishing Mitsubishi with shipping as its core business in a time of turbulence
A visionary and formidable entrepreneur
When we look back on history, there have always been new businesses arising during times of political and social change. We focus on Mitsubishi founder Yataro Iwasaki's ties with Ryoma Sakamoto, an influential figure in the days leading up to the Meiji Restoration. In 1867, Yataro was assigned to the Tosa Clan's trading office in Nagasaki, where he assisted Shojiro Goto, who had become an influential official. Meanwhile, Japan was on the brink of war as influential clans were preparing to oust the ruling shogunate. Yodo Yamauchi*, the head of the Tosa Clan, and other leaders gathered for talks in Kyoto. Various plans were discussed, but no consensus was reached. Yodo decided to seek advice from Shojiro and Ryoma so the pair quickly set out for Kyoto. Yataro watched as they departed from Nagasaki. On June 9, 1967, Yataro wrote: "The ship set sail at 2 PM. We all saw it off. Tears suddenly came to my eyes as they sailed off." It was during this voyage that Ryoma finalized his Eight Point Plan. In addition to returning power to the Imperial Court, the plan also called for the creation of legislative houses through which government policies would be decided. It was a blueprint for a new Japan. The plan was passed along to Yodo by Shojiro. Yodo then presented the shogun, Yos Founder of Mitsubishi In this Japanese name, the surname is Iwasaki. Iwasaki Yatarō (岩崎 弥太郎, January 9, 1835 – February 7, 1885) was a Japaneseindustrialist and financier known as the founder of Mitsubishi, one of Japan's largest conglomerates. Yatarō Iwasaki was born on 9 January 1835 in Aki, Tosa Province (now Kōchi Prefecture) into a provincial farming family. Iwasaki's family had been members of the samurai warrior nobility, but his great great grandfather, Iwasaki Yajiemon (岩崎弥次右衛門) had sold off his family's samurai status in obligation of debts during the Great Tenmei famine. His family derived from Iwasaki clan that was a branch of Takeda clan of Kai Province (甲斐武田氏). The ancestor of Iwasaki clan was Iwasaki Nobutaka (岩崎信隆) known as Takeda Shichirō (武田七郎) who was the fifth son of Takeda Nobumitsu. The Iwasaki clan served Aki clan (安芸氏), and Chōsokabe clan (長宗我部氏) at the Battle of Sekigahara (October 21, 1600). Iwasaki began his career as an employee of the Yamauchi clan, the ruling clan of the Tosa Domain which had business interests in many parts of Japan. Iwasaki left for Edo aged nineteen for his education, but his studies were interrupted a year later when his father was seriously injured in a dispute with the village headman. Iwasaki accused the local magistrate of corruption for refusing to hear his case, and was subsequently sent to prison for seven months after he was kicked out from his village. After his release, Iwasaki was without a permanent job for a time before finding work as a tutor. Iwasaki returned to Edo, where he socialised with political activists and studied under the Yoshida Toyo, a reformist and modernization advocate from Tosa Province. Yoshida was employed by Yamauchi Toyoshige, the daimyō (lord) of the Tosa Domain, and he influenced Iwasaki with ideas of opening and developing the then-closed Japan through industry and foreign trade. Iwasaki found work as a clerk for th .
The final days of the Tokugawa Shogunateand the Meiji Restoration that followed in 1868 was one such period, and it was Yataro Iwasaki who had the knowledge and the vision to see a new era coming, and with it the need for strong and organized international commerce.
Yataro Iwasaki was born in 1835 and as a young man worked for the Tosa Clan, one of the most powerful merchant clans of the time. Exporters of specialty goods such as camphor and dried bonito and importers of warships and weapons, the clan initially conducted its business operations in Nagasaki, the only sea port authorized to conduct trade between Japan and the outside world. Due to Yataro’s strong leadership and business savvy, the clan’s business operations were eventually moved to Osaka. When the Meiji government set out a policy of banning the system of clan-led businesses, powerful members of the Tosa Clan, Shojiro Goto and Taisuke Itagaki, established Tsukumo Shokai, Mitsubishi’s predecessor, in 1870 to take over the clan’s shipping business. In 1873, the new government enforced the abolition and in the turbulent period of change that followed, Yataro Our Roots A history of rising to the challenge vol.6
Yataro & Ryoma—Sharing a Common Dream
Yataro worked to raise funds for Tosa while also procuring steamships, weapons and ammunition. He also supported the activities of the Kaientai, a private navy and trading company founded by Ryoma, and that is how Yataro and Ryoma first met. While they took very different paths, Yataro and Ryoma shared a similar awareness of a larger world and a focus on the Japan of tomorrow. After meeting Ryoma, Yataro wrote: "We drank some sake´ and had an amicable conversation. I shared ideas I'd been thinking about for some time and Ryoma enthusiastically expressed his agreement." The pair must have discovered they had some things in common—perhaps they talked about their dreams of venturing out into the world one day.Iwasaki Yatarō
Early life