Kawasaki Shozo

Japanese: 川崎正蔵 - かわさき・しょうぞう

Year of death: December 2, 1912
Year of birth: Tempo 8.7.10 (1837.8.10)
Meiji period businessman. Founder of Kawasaki Shipyard. The eldest son of a small merchant in the Satsuma (Kagoshima) domain, his childhood name was Isoharu. He taught himself Japanese studies and English, and got a job at the huge maritime merchant Yamakiya, where he worked in shipping, trade, and shipbuilding in Kagoshima and Nagasaki. After working as a retailer in Osaka, he moved to Tokyo in 1871 (Meiji 4) and was asked by the Ministry of Finance to investigate Ryukyu specialties. As vice president of the Japan Post Steamship Company, he successfully opened a shipping route to Ryukyu. In 1880, he was appointed as the privileged seller of Okinawa Prefecture sugar tribute, earning large commissions, and also accumulated capital through the management of the shipping business and Kawasaki Spinning Mill. He borrowed government land and 30,000 yen from the Ministry of Finance, and with loans from Moroto Seiroku and Morimura Ichizaemon, he founded Kawasaki Shipyard in Tsukiji Minamiiidacho, Kyobashi Ward, Tokyo in May 1882, and received initial operating capital assistance from Godai Tomoatsu. In April 1904, he was granted the lease of the government-run Hyogo Shipyard, and after streamlining operations, he was allowed to sell it to the company in July 1905. He immediately paid about 60,000 yen using a 10% interest calculation method, and started the privately-run Kawasaki Shipyard. With the management mottos of "The battle for business lasts for the first five minutes" and "The timber for a large building does not come from one hill of trees," he worked hard to expand the market and expanded the shipyard, but when the organization was changed to a joint-stock company in October 1904, he appointed Kojiro Matsukata as president and retired to become an advisor due to illness. As a major shareholder of 20,000 shares in the new company, he received a huge dividend of 1.87 million yen by the time of his death, and used this to purchase a large number of shares and land, establishing the Kobe Shimbun newspaper company in 1906, the Kobe Kawasaki Bank in 1903, and a tenant farm called Kawasaki Kaisei-sha in Korea in 1904. He was also known as an art collector, and established an art museum called Choshun-kaku in his main residence in Nunobiki, Kobe, where he interacted with politicians and business leaders. He was a strong believer in nationalism, had a talent for building personal connections, and the biggest factor in his success was that he was able to penetrate the network of Satsuma people centered around Toshimichi Okubo, Masayoshi Matsukata, and Tomoatsu Godai. <References> Sanehiko Yamamoto, "Kawasaki Shozo"; Yasuo Mishima, "The Life of Shipbuilding King Kawasaki Shozo"

(Yasuo Mishima)

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

Japanese:

没年：大正1.12.2(1912)
生年：天保8.7.10(1837.8.10)
明治期の実業家。川崎造船所の創設者。薩摩(鹿児島)藩の小商人の長男で,幼名は磯治。独学で国学や英語を学び,巨大海商の山木屋に就職し,鹿児島と長崎で海運,貿易,造船に従事した。大坂での小売商を経て明治4(1871)年に上京し,大蔵省から琉球特産品の調査を依頼され,日本国郵便蒸汽船会社の副頭取として琉球航路の開設に成功した。13年に沖縄県貢糖の特権的販売人に任命されて多額の手数料を得,また海運業や川崎紡績所の経営で資本を蓄積した。大蔵省から官有地と3万円を借用し,諸戸清六や森村市左衛門の融資を得て,11年5月に東京の京橋区築地南飯田町に川崎造船所を創設し,五代友厚から初期の運転資金の援助を受けた。19年4月に官営兵庫造船所の貸し下げを受け,経営の合理化を行った上で20年7月に払い下げを許可され,1割利引計算法によって約6万円を即納し,私営の川崎造船所としてスタートした。「商戦は最初の5分間」「大厦の材は一丘の木にあらず」を経営のモットーとし,市場の拡大のために奔走して造船所を拡大したが,29年10月に株式会社に組織変更したときに松方幸次郎を社長に就任させ,自らは病気のため顧問に退いた。新会社の2万株の大株主として死去するまでに187万円の莫大な配当を得,これで多数の株式と土地を購入し,31年に神戸新聞社,38年に神戸川崎銀行,さらに39年に朝鮮に川崎開成社という小作農場を設立した。美術品の収集家としても知られ,神戸布引の本邸内に長春閣という美術館を設けて,政財界人と交歓した。ナショナリズムの強い信奉者で,人脈作りの才能を持ち,大久保利通,松方正義,五代友厚を中心とする薩摩人ネットワークの中に入り込めたことが,成功の最大の要因であった。<参考文献>山本実彦『川崎正蔵』,三島康雄『造船王川崎正蔵の生涯』

(三島康雄)

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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