Ono Zenemon

Japanese: 小野善右衛門 - おの・ぜんえもん

The nickname of the senior clerk of the Ono family, a wealthy merchant on par with Mitsui from the Edo period to the early Meiji period. The family name was Izutsuya Zen'emon. The first head of the Matajiro family, one of the three Ono families in Kyoto, Kaneyoshi (1738-89), and others used the name Zen'emon, but from the third generation onwards, the name Zen'emon was no longer used, and the name became one of the job titles for the senior clerks of the three Ono families, and they were in charge of managing the three Ono families. Zen'emon was chosen from a branch family who was trusted, and their term of office was three to five years, and those who took on the name were called Motokata. Former Zen'emons included Hikobei (succeeded in 1854), Kanebei (succeeded in 1860), and Shinogoro (succeeded in 1863), but the most famous was Nishimura Kanroku, who lived during the late Edo period and the Meiji Restoration. Nishimura Kanroku, whose real surname was Tawa, entered the service of the Ono Zensuke family in 1836, and in 1852 he became head of the Edo store, reforming the store system, and in 1859 he played a leading role in the management of the Ono family, formulating a plan to resolve the situation when the Ono family of Morioka was expelled from the Morioka domain. In 1860 he succeeded the Nishimura family, a branch of the Ono family, and took the name Ono Zen'emon. During the Meiji Restoration, he cooperated and worked hard to collect official funds and accounting base funds for the new government, and became the Governor of the Commercial Law Bureau, contributing to the establishment of trading companies and foreign exchange companies that the government encouraged in various places. When the Family Registration Act was enacted in 1871, Kanroku himself left the Nishimura family register, handed the Nishimura family name to his eldest daughter, and established a new family under the official name of Ono Zen'emon. This led to Kanroku's tyranny, which drew ire from fellow clan members, including the head of the Ono family, Zensuke Ono, and caused internal discord within the business, which weakened the Ono-gumi and was an indirect cause of its bankruptcy in 1874. However, his achievements during the late Edo period and the Meiji Restoration cannot be ignored. After the bankruptcy of the Ono-gumi, he handled the liquidation process and also established the Ono Shokai. <References> Miyamoto Mataji, "Research on the Ono-gumi," 4 volumes

(Miyamoto Mataro)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

江戸時代から明治初期において三井とならぶ豪商,小野家の上級番頭の通り名。屋号は井筒屋善右衛門。京都小野三家のひとつ又次郎家の初代包敬(1738～89)などが善右衛門を名乗ったが,3代目からは善右衛門名を用いず,以後善右衛門名は,小野三家の上級番頭の役職名のひとつとなり,小野三家の経営を担当した。善右衛門は別家から信用のあるものが選ばれ,任期は3～5年で,襲名するものは元方と呼ばれた。彦兵衛(1854年襲名),金兵衛(1860年襲名),篠五郎(1863年襲名)などが歴代の善右衛門であるが,最も有名なのは,幕末・明治維新期の西村勘六である。西村勘六は本姓田和で,天保7(1836)年小野善助家に奉公し,嘉永5(1852)年江戸店の主任となって店制改革を行い,安政6(1859)年盛岡藩から盛岡の小野家が追放処分を受けた際にはその善後策を立てるなど,小野家経営において主導的役割を果たした。万延1(1860)年小野家の別家西村家を継ぎ,小野善右衛門を襲名して,明治維新時には新政府の御用金・会計基立金の徴募に協力,奔走,商法司知事となって,政府が各地において勧奨した通商会社・為替会社の設立にも寄与した。明治4(1871)年戸籍法成立に当たり,勘六自らは西村籍を去って西村姓を長女に譲り,役名の小野善右衛門名をもって新たに一家を興した。このことは勘六の専横として,本家小野善助をはじめ同族内で不興を買い,経営内部の不一致をもたらすなど,小野組の弱体化の一因となり,明治7年における小野組の破綻の遠因となったが,幕末・維新期における活躍は無視できない。小野組破綻後,清算事務にあたるとともに,小野商会を設立した。<参考文献>宮本又次『小野組の研究』全4巻

(宮本又郎)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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