The second installment of Wandering Palaceside, strolling the Palaceside Building neighborhood at Takebashi. On July 25 we introduced the bronze statue of Eiichi Shibusawa (1840–1931) in Tokiwa Bridge Park.
Shibusawa is known as the "father of Japanese capitalism." He helped found Dai-Ichi Bank (now Mizuho Bank), Tokyo Gas, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, Oji Paper (now Oji Holdings and Nippon Paper), Den-en-toshi (now Tokyu Corporation), the Imperial Hotel, Kirin Brewery, Toyo Boseki, and more — reportedly over 500 companies.
Born in what is now Fukaya, Saitama, in 1840, he embraced sonno joi in his youth. Recommendation from a retainer of the Hitotsubashi family led him to serve Yoshinobu Hitotsubashi — a turning point. When Yoshinobu became shogun, Shibusawa entered bakufu service, accompanied Yoshinobu's brother Akitake Tokugawa (later lord of Mito) to the Paris Exposition as the shogun's representative, toured Europe, and returned with firsthand knowledge of modern industry and finance. After serving the Meiji government, he clashed with Shigenobu Okuma and others in 1873 and left office, devoting himself to business while guiding the financial sector. His statue facing the Bank of Japan in Tokiwa Bridge Park makes perfect sense.
His reputation endures because he lived by "the unity of morality and economy" — pursuing public benefit rather than private gain — and never built a Shibusawa zaibatsu.
The Mitsubishi Group website offers an interesting comparison between zaibatsu founder Yataro Iwasaki and Shibusawa, who was deeply involved in Mitsubishi-affiliated firms:
"...Shibusawa promoted joint-stock companies owned by many shareholders... He incorporated Confucian ethics into Western-style management and sought profit consistent with righteousness... Yataro, a man of boundless energy, believed dictatorial leadership by the president was the source of corporate vitality... 'All company matters... shall be decided solely by the president.'" (http://www.mitsubishi.com/j/history/series/yataro/yataro22.html)
The statue was erected in 1933, lost to metal collection during World War II, and rebuilt in 1955. Both versions were cast by Asakura Fumio, hailed as "Japan's Rodin" — a story for another day.
The Shibusawa Memorial Foundation runs the Shibusawa Memorial Museum (Nishi-Kamata 2, Kita Ward; five minutes from JR Oji Station on the Keihin-Tohoku Line), displaying materials spanning his entire life.