Dismantling the Zaibatsu - I Want to Dismantle the Zaibatsu

Along with land reform and labor-management reform, this was one of the main pillars of the Allied occupation policy towards Japan after the war, and its purpose was to eliminate the zaibatsu, which were seen as the economic foundation of militarism, in order to realize the demilitarization of Japan. This policy had already been under consideration for about a year before Japan's defeat, but it was set out in the "Initial Post-Surrender Policy of the United States Towards Japan" announced in September 1945 (Showa 20) immediately after the defeat, as "the dismantling of the great combination of industry and finance which controls the majority of Japan's commerce and industry." The dissolution of the zaibatsu came as a great shock to Japan's business circles, which had hardly anticipated it, and the zaibatsu resisted the dissolution and tried to avoid it through voluntary reforms, but the occupying forces did not approve. The basic policy of the occupying forces was to dissolve the zaibatsu holding companies, force the zaibatsu families to release their shares and expel them from company executive positions, thereby stripping them of their corporate control, and instructed the Japanese government to submit a plan that included dismantling the headquarters of the four major zaibatsu (Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda), dismantling small and medium-sized zaibatsu, dismantling the system of concurrent directors and corporate control through corporate shareholding, and enacting an anti-monopoly law.Then, in November, the Restriction of Companies Act was promulgated, putting a stop to any attempts to avoid dismantling the companies.

The dissolution work was carried out by the Holding Company Reorganization Committee, which was established in August 1946, and 83 companies were designated as holding companies in five stages by September 1947. In addition to the headquarters of the four major zaibatsu, the headquarters of small and medium-sized zaibatsu such as Asano, Okura, Nomura, and Katakura were dissolved, and holding companies with operating divisions such as Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Furukawa Mining (now Furukawa Co., Ltd.) were required to dispose of their shares and create reconstruction plans under the Enterprise Reconstruction and Reorganization Law. Shares and other valuable securities were transferred to the Holding Company Reorganization Committee and then sold to the public, and the central institutions of the zaibatsu disappeared. At the same time, the elimination of personal control of the zaibatsu was promoted, and 56 people designated as zaibatsu families were ordered to dispose of their shares and resign from all company executive positions. At the same time, war collaborators were purged from public office, and about 1,500 business leaders, mainly from large companies, resigned from their executive positions, and the management of various companies was completely replaced.

The zaibatsu dissolution policy was strongly influenced by the anti-monopoly ideas of the New Dealers, who were influential in the US government and the occupying forces, and in the process of its implementation, it developed from the dissolution of holding companies to a policy of deconcentration that called for the division of large companies. The occupying forces' active stance toward the deconcentration policy was also shown in their orders to completely dissolve Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corporation, which were considering plans to divide their companies at the time. Then, in December 1947, the Act on the Elimination of Excessive Concentration of Economic Power was promulgated, and in February of the following year, 257 mining and manufacturing companies and 68 distribution and service companies were designated as having excessive concentrations of economic power. There was a risk that the Japanese economy would fall into chaos if these companies were divided up, but with the progress of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union at that time, the US government shifted its policy toward Japan from demilitarization to promoting economic independence, and proposed reparations and the relaxation of the deconcentration policy. In the end, 18 companies, including Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, were targeted for deconcentration, and only 11 companies were subject to corporate division, so the deconcentration policy was watered down. Thus, by around 1949, measures to dismantle the zaibatsu were almost complete.

Later, with the end of the occupation, the old zaibatsu-affiliated business groups were formed, centering on the banks that had not been touched in the zaibatsu dissolution, but family and clan control was never restored. The dissolution of the zaibatsu resulted in the rejuvenation of managers and a competitive industrial system, creating the prerequisites for the innovative business activities of Japanese companies in the postwar period.

[Nakamura Aoshi]

"The Japanese Zaibatsu and Their Dissolution, Vol. 1 and 2 (1951), edited and published by the Holding Company Reorganization Committee" ▽ "The Dissolution and Reorganization of the Japanese Zaibatsu, by E.M. Hardley, translated and supervised by Ohara Takashi and Ariga Michiko (1973, Toyo Keizai Shinposha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

農地改革や労使関係の改革とともに、連合国の戦後対日占領政策の主柱をなすものであり、その目的は、日本の非軍事化を実現するために、軍国主義の経済的基盤とみられた財閥を取り除くことであった。こうした方針は、すでに日本の敗戦の1年前ごろから検討されていたが、敗戦直後の1945年（昭和20）9月に発表された「降伏後における米国の初期の対日方針」のなかで、「日本の商工業の大部分を支配する産業と金融の大コンビネーションの解体」として打ち出された。財閥解体をほとんど予想していなかった日本の財界は大きな衝撃を受け、財閥側は解体に抵抗し、自主的改革を通じて解体を回避しようとしたが、占領軍は承認しなかった。占領軍の基本方針は、財閥の持株会社を解散させるとともに、財閥家族の持株を放出させ、会社役員からも追放して、彼らの企業支配力を奪うことであり、四大財閥（三井、三菱(みつびし)、住友、安田）本社解体、中小財閥の解体、兼任重役制と法人持株による企業支配の解体、独占禁止法制定などの計画提出が日本政府に指示された。ついで11月には制限会社令が公布され、解体逃れの動きが封じ込められた。

　解体作業は、1946年8月に発足した持株会社整理委員会により執行され、47年9月までに5回に分けて83社が持株会社の指定を受けた。四大財閥の本社のほか、浅野、大倉、野村、片倉など中小財閥の本社は解散させられ、川崎重工業、古河鉱業（現古河機械金属）など現業部門をもつ持株会社は、持株を処分したうえで、企業再建整備法による再建計画を作成することになった。持株など有価証券は、持株会社整理委員会の手に委譲されたのち、一般に売却され、ここに財閥の中枢機関は消滅した。同時に、財閥の人的支配の排除が進められ、財閥家族として指定された56人に対し、持株の処分やいっさいの会社役員の地位を去ることが命ぜられた。並行して、戦争協力者の公職追放も実施され、大企業を中心に約1500人の財界人が役員から退陣し、諸企業の経営陣は一新されていった。

　こうして推進された財閥解体政策は、その実施過程で、アメリカ政府や占領軍内部で勢力のあったニューディーラーの反独占政策の理念の影響を強く受けて、持株会社の解体からさらに進んで大企業の分割を求める集中排除政策にまで発展していった。占領軍の集中排除政策に対する積極的姿勢は、当時企業分割案を検討中であった三井物産、三菱商事に対して、徹底的解散を指令したことにも現れていた。そして、1947年12月過度経済力集中排除法が公布され、翌年2月には鉱工業257社、配給・サービス業68社が過度の経済力集中として指定された。これらの企業の分割が実施されると日本経済は大混乱に陥るおそれがあったが、おりから米ソ冷戦の進行とともに、アメリカ政府は対日政策を非軍事化から経済自立の促進に転換し、賠償や集中排除政策の緩和を打ち出した。結局、日本製鉄、三菱重工業など18社が集中排除の対象とされ、企業分割が適用されたのは11社にとどまり、集中排除政策は骨抜きになった。こうして49年ごろまでに財閥解体措置はほぼ完了した。

　その後、占領の終結とともに、財閥解体で手が触れられなかった銀行を中心に旧財閥系企業集団が形成されたが、家族・同族の支配が復活することはなかった。財閥解体は経営者の若返りと競争的産業体制を実現し、戦後の日本企業の革新的企業活動の前提条件をつくったといえる。

［中村青志］

『持株会社整理委員会編・刊『日本財閥とその解体』上下（1951）』▽『E・M・ハードレー著、小原敬士・有賀美智子監訳『日本財閥の解体と再編成』（1973・東洋経済新報社）』

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