Kawasaki Hachiemon

Japanese: 川崎八右衛門 - かわさき・はちえもん

Year of death: January 13, 1907 (Meiji 40)
Year of birth: Tenpo 5.12 (1834)
A Meiji-era businessman. Born to a family of village headman and shipping wholesaler in Ebisuzawa Village, Hitachi Province (Ibaraki Town, Ibaraki Prefecture). He inherited the family headship at the age of 16. To save the financially impoverished Mito Domain, he proposed that the domain mint currency, and was appointed as the director of the coinage, where he personally minted currency. While many wealthy local merchants went bankrupt during the Meiji Restoration, Kawasaki adapted to the changing times by trying various businesses such as mining and Hokkaido development. In 1874, he established the Kawasaki Group in Tokyo, which handled foreign exchange services for the Metropolitan Police Department and other government agencies. In 1880, it was reorganized as the Kawasaki Bank, and in 1881, he established the Tokai Savings Bank (renamed the Kawasaki Savings Bank in 1909) to collect small amounts of funds. He went on to form the Kawasaki Zaibatsu, centering on the financial industry. In 1922, he handed over the position of president of Kawasaki Bank to Kawasaki Kinzaburo (the second Yaemon), and served as his supervisor, until he officially retired in 1938. Kawasaki Bank later merged with the Daihyaku Bank, becoming nearly as large as the top five banks, but as part of the bank consolidation policy during World War II, it was merged with Mitsubishi Bank and the Kawasaki zaibatsu was dissolved.

(Masakazu Shimada)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治40.1.13(1907)
生年：天保5.12(1834)
明治期の実業家。常陸国海老沢村(茨城県茨城町)の大庄屋兼回漕問屋の家に生まれる。16歳で家督を相続。窮乏する水戸藩の藩財政を救うため藩による通貨鋳造を献策,銭座取締に任命され,自ら通貨鋳造に当たった。幕末維新期に多くの地方豪商が没落する中,川崎は鉱山,北海道開拓など様々な事業を試みながら時代の変化に対応していった。明治7(1874)年東京で川崎組を設立,警視庁など官公庁の為替業務を取り扱った。13年川崎銀行に改組,さらに14年小口の資金を集める東海貯金銀行(32年川崎貯蓄銀行に改称)を設立。金融業を中心に川崎財閥を形成していった。25年には川崎金三郎(2代目八右衛門)に川崎銀行頭取の座をゆずり,監督として後見し,38年正式に引退。川崎銀行はその後,第百銀行と合併し5大銀行に迫るほどの規模となったが,第2次世界大戦下の銀行合同政策で三菱銀行に合併され,川崎財閥は解体した。

(島田昌和)

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

<<: Kawasaki Armed May Day Incident

>>: Chojuro Kawarasaki (II)