Exchange company - kawase gaisha

Japan's first joint stock company was established in 1869 (Meiji 2) under the supervision of the Trade Office (a government agency in charge of industrial policy) along with trading companies for the purpose of promoting the Meiji government's policy of encouraging industry. Its mission was to provide credit to trading companies involved in commerce and trade, along with establishing a currency system and private financing. The government encouraged wealthy merchants such as Mitsui, Ono, and Shimada to establish exchange companies in eight locations: Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Otsu, Niigata, and Tsuruga. Operating funds came from the personal funds (capital) contributed by these wealthy merchants, as well as paper money issued as part of a gold reserve, and loans from the government (Dajokan bills). In addition to issuing banknotes and making loans, their businesses also included deposits, foreign exchange, and currency exchange, but despite government protection, business was poor and they declined with the abolition of the Trade Office in 1871.When the National Bank Act was enacted the following year, all of them were dissolved except for the Yokohama Exchange Company, which was transformed into the Second National Bank.

It is generally said that Kawase Kaisha is the original translation of the word "bank" and is sometimes considered to be Japan's first bank; however, its deposit operations were insufficient and the banknotes it issued were far from being credit currency in the strict sense; it remained merely a precursor to the modern banking system.

[Kazuyoshi Okada]

"A Study of the History of the Origin of Japanese Companies" by Kazutaro Kanno (1931, Iwanami Shoten, reprinted in 1966 by Keizai Hyoronsha) " "A Study of the History of the Establishment of the Modern Japanese Credit System" by Hiroshi Niho (1968, Yuhikaku)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1869年（明治2）明治政府の殖産興業政策推進を目的に通商司（勧商、産業政策担当の政府機関）の監督下に通商会社とともに設立された、日本最初の株式会社。その任務として、幣制整備、民間融資とあわせて商業、貿易を担う通商会社に信用を与えることが期待された。政府は三井、小野、島田などの富商に勧めて、東京、横浜、京都、大阪、神戸、大津、新潟、敦賀(つるが)の8か所に為替会社を設立させた。運用資金はこれら富商の出資した身元金（資本金）のほか、その一部を金準備として発行した紙幣、政府の貸下げ金（太政官札(だじょうかんさつ)）であった。業務は紙幣発行、貸出のほか、預金、為替、両替などをも行ったが、政府の保護にもかかわらず営業は振るわず、1871年の通商司の廃止とともに衰え、翌72年の国立銀行条例の制定にあたり、第二国立銀行に転形した横浜為替会社を除いてすべて解散した。

　一般に為替会社は「バンクbank」の最初の訳語であるといわれ、日本最初の銀行とされる場合もあるが、預金業務は十分でなく、発行紙幣も厳密には信用貨幣には遠く、近代的銀行制度の先駆的形態にとどまるものであった。

［岡田和喜］

『菅野和太郎著『日本会社企業発生史の研究』（1931・岩波書店／再版・1966・経済評論社）』▽『新保博著『日本近代信用制度成立史論』（1968・有斐閣）』

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