Takushoku Company - Takushokugaisha

A semi-public, national policy company that operates development (reclamation and colonization) projects within Japan, in colonies, and abroad. The oldest in Japan up until World War II was the South Manchuria Railway Company (Mantetsu), established in 1906 (Meiji 39) after the Russo-Japanese War. It had capital of 200 million yen and was the central institution for Japan's management of Manchuria. The Toyo Takushoku Company (Totaku), established in 1908 for the purpose of operating a development project in Korea, had capital of 10 million yen and carried out a wide range of business activities including finance, rice production, irrigation, cotton cultivation, and forest harvesting. In particular, its directly managed development project covered 35,333 chobu of rice paddies, 14,506 chobu of farmland, and employed over 79,000 tenant farmers. In 1917 (Taisho 6), Totaku's business area was expanded to include the Kwantung Leased Territory, Manchuria and Mongolia, North China, and the South Seas. Furthermore, in 1936 (Showa 11), the Korea-Manchuria Colonization Company (capital 20 million yen) and the Manchuria-Korea Colonization Company (capital 15 million yen) were established with the aim of relocating Korean farmers to Manchuria. Both were semi-public, semi-private special companies that could be described as two sides of the same coin, and were subsidiaries of the South Manchuria Railway and Totaku. Furthermore, in the same year, the Taiwan Colonization Company (capital 30 million yen) was established in Taiwan, and the Nanyo Colonization Company (capital 20 million yen) in the South Seas, both of which were also special companies. In 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the North China Development Company (capital 350 million yen) and the Central China Promotion Company (capital 100 million yen) were established. As a result of Japan's defeat in the war, all of these colonization companies naturally disappeared.

[Kato Kozaburo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

国内、植民地および外国において拓殖（開拓および植民）事業を営む半官半民の国策会社のこと。第二次世界大戦までの日本でもっとも古いのは、日露戦争後の1906年（明治39）に設立された南満州鉄道株式会社（満鉄）である。資本金2億円、日本の満州経営の中枢機関であった。朝鮮の拓殖事業を営む目的で1908年に設立された東洋拓殖株式会社（東拓）は資本金1000万円、業務内容は金融・産米増殖・水利・綿作・森林伐採など多岐にわたり、とくにその直営拓殖事業は田3万5333町歩、畑1万4506町歩、小作人は7万9000余人に及んだという。東拓の営業区域は1917年（大正6）からは関東州、満蒙(まんもう)、華北、南洋にまで広げられた。さらに1936年（昭和11）には、朝鮮人農民の満州移住を目的として鮮満拓殖株式会社（資本金2000万円）と満鮮拓殖株式会社（資本金1500万円）が設立された。ともに表裏一体ともいうべき半官半民の特殊会社で、満鉄および東拓の子会社であった。しかも同年、台湾には台湾拓殖株式会社（資本金3000万円）、南洋には南洋拓殖株式会社（資本金2000万円）が設立され、同じく特殊会社であった。日中戦争時の1938年には、北支那(しな)開発株式会社（資本金3億5000万円）、中支那振興株式会社（資本金1億円）が設立された。敗戦の結果、これらの拓殖会社はすべて自然消滅した。

［加藤幸三郎］

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