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The Personality and Career of Hikojirō Nakamigawa, 1887–1901

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

Tsunehiko Yui
Tsunehiko Yui
Affiliation:
Professor of Business History, Meiji University
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Abstract

Hikojirō Nakamigawa, the famous head of the Sanyō Railway and the huge Mitsui business combine, has long been characterized by historians as the epitome of the modern entrepreneur. In this article, Professor Yui, after a brief survey of the highlights of Nakamigawa's career, challenges the traditional interpretation by presenting a more balanced view of this controversial figure.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 44 , Issue 1: Japanese Entrepreneurship , Spring 1970 , pp. 39 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1970

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References

1 For a general characterization of Hikojirō Nakamigawa by economic or business historians in Japan, see the section entitled “Nakamigawa's personality and thought.”

2 As a member of the editorial staff of Nihon Keieishi Kenkyūjo (Japan Managerial History Research Center) for Nakamigawa Hikojirò Denki-shiryō (Biographical Materials on Hikojirō Nakamigawa), (Tokoyo, 1969)Google Scholar, I have been able to examine primary sources. The description of his life and career in this article is based on my survey of this material.

3 In opposition to the proponents of this view, Professor Yamamura, Kozo recently insisted on the necessity of a re-examination. See his article, “A Re-examination of Entrepreneurship in Meiji Japan,” Economic History Review, XXI (Apr. 1968)Google Scholar. The present paper also takes fundamentally the same point of view.

4 His father was a Kurakata-Hon-yaku in Nakatsu-han; i.e., a disbursing and sales officer (manager) of the land tax.

5 His works in this period include: Nihon Chizusoshi (Account of Japanese geography), [1873]; Chiri Ryaku (Account of world geography), [1874]; America Gijiindan (Introduction to American Parliamentarism), [1874]; “Jinmin Kyōiku no Setsu” (On the education of people), Minkan-zasshi, II (1874); “Aotosaemon no Hanashi” (On the ancient economist, Aotosaemon), Minkan-zasshi, III (1884).

6 He wrote in his diary, undated, August 1876, “Since a few years ago, I have wished to be a statesman.”

7 The greater part of his diary was lost in the earthquake of 1920, but a part of it which he kept while staying in England still remains.

8 The Department of Correspondence controlled trade negotiations and communications with foreign diplomats.

9 For example, he created unique forms of advertising by utilizing ad-balloons and hand bills.

10 The main articles he wrote in this newspaper are: “Nihonteikoku no Kaigun” (The Navy of Imperial Japan), February 6–13, 1883; “Tōyō no Poland” (Poland in the Eastern countries), October 15–16, 1884; “Chōsenjihen no Shobunhō” (Affair in Korea), December 23, 1884; “Kenshin Tokuha Zenkentaishi” (On sending the Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to China), January 15, 1885.

11 See Nikon Tetsudōshi (The History of Railways in Japan), (1916), I, 372–393.

12 Nakamigawa to Kaoru Inoue, March 14, 1887.

13 Takenori Kikuchi, Nakamigawa Hikojiro-kun, [1903], 55–66.

14 The following description referring to his career in Mitsui is based mainly on “Mitsui Honshashi” (unpublished History of Mitsui Head-office, Mitsui Honsha, 1954), 300–401.

15 Nakamigawa to Inoue, February 9, 1882.

16 “Mitsui Honshashi,” 352–357.

17 For the most lengthy account, see Kanebō Hontenshi (The History of Kanebō Co., Ltd.), [1937], 304–315.

18 Yōsan no Shōrei” (Encouragement of Silk-raising), Jiji-Shinpō, May 26, 1894.

19 Shirayanagi Shuko, Nakamigawa Hikojiro-den (Biography), [1939], 248–250; Shiso, Hattori (ed.), Kindai Nihon Jinbutsu Keizaishi (The Economic History of Businessmen in Modern Japan), [1955], I, 170–172.Google Scholar

20 He wrote in a letter to his friend, Motoyama Hikoichi, on January 1, 1887, “It seems to me that trade is the most suitable job for me.”

21 The articles on the economy in Jiji Shinpō in Nakamigawa's day emphasized the promotion of the silk industry, the protection of railway building, and the necessity of conversion of native agriculture.

22 R. N. Bellah, Tokugawa Religion (1962), chap. 1.

23 Ibid., chap. 2.

24 “Mangen” (Occasional thoughts), Jifi Shlnpō, February 12, 1883.

25 Suzuki, Umeshiro, “Jitsugyōka toshite no Nakamigawa Hikojiro sensei” (Nakamigawa as a businessman), Nakamigawa Hikojiro-kun Denkishiryo (1927), 195.Google Scholar

26 Nakamigawa to Satoshi Hiraga, February 28, 1901.

27 Takinori Kikuchi, Nakamigawa Hikojirō-kun, 59–60.

28 See fn. 5.

29 “Jinminkyōiku no Setsu” (On the education of people), Minkan-zasshi, II, 1–2.

30 Diary, undated, July 1876.

31 Nihon Tetsudō-shi, I, 343.