Dan Takuma

He was an engineer turned businessman and doctor of engineering. He was born in Fukuoka on August 1, 1858, as the fourth son of Kamiya Takunojo, a samurai of the Fukuoka domain. His childhood name was Komakichi. In 1870 (Meiji 3), he was adopted by the domain's accounting magistrate, Dan Shosei. In 1871, when Iwakura Tomomi traveled to the United States, he accompanied Kaneko Kentaro and others as a student studying abroad with the Kuroda family (the Iwakura Mission), and returned to Japan after graduating from the Department of Mining at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He subsequently worked as an assistant professor at Osaka Middle School and the University of Tokyo, before joining the Ministry of Public Works in 1884 and working at the Miike Coal Mine. When Mitsui sold the mine to him, he moved to Mitsui, where he served as the mine's office manager before becoming the managing director of Mitsui General Partnership in 1894 and subsequently presided over the company. At the Miike coal mine, he introduced state-of-the-art drainage pumps made in the UK, built the port of Miike, and promoted diversified heavy chemical industry by utilizing Miike coal, making Miike a cash cow for Mitsui, while also succeeding in expanding into the Chikuho coalfields and making the Hokkaido Colliery Steamship Company a subsidiary. Highly regarded for his technical and managerial skills, he was promoted to counselor of Mitsui General Partnership in 1909 (Meiji 42), and furthermore became chairman of the company in 1914 (Taisho 3), succeeding Masuda Takashi. Over the next 17 years, he reigned as the supreme leader of the Mitsui zaibatsu, and established Mitsui as the largest zaibatsu conglomerate in Japan. He also worked hard to form business organizations, and held important positions such as chairman of the Japan Industrial Club and chairman of the Japan Economic Federation, and was active as a leader in the business world, famously blocking the labor union bill proposed by the Hamaguchi Cabinet. On March 5, 1932 (Showa 7), he met a dramatic end in a right-wing terrorist attack in front of the Mitsui Main Building (Ketsumeidan Incident). Dan's wife was Kaneko Kentaro's sister, Makita Tamaki, a director of Mitsui Partnership, was Dan's son-in-law, and musician Dan Ikuma was Dan's grandson.

[Hideki Hatakeyama]

"The Biography of Baron Dan Takuma, Volumes 1 and 2 (1938) compiled and published by the Biography of the Late Baron Dan Compilation Committee" ▽ "The Economic History of Modern Japanese People, Volume 2 (1955, Toyo Keizai Shinposha) compiled by the Japanese Economic History Research Association"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

技術者出身の実業家、工学博士。安政(あんせい)5年8月1日、福岡藩士神屋宅之丞の四男として福岡に生まれる。幼名駒吉。1870年（明治3）同藩勘定奉行(かんじょうぶぎょう)団尚静の養嗣子(ようしし)となる。1871年岩倉具視(いわくらともみ)渡米に際し、黒田家の海外留学生として金子堅太郎などとともに同行（岩倉使節団）、マサチューセッツ工科大学鉱山学科を卒業して帰国。以後、大阪中学校助教授、東京大学助教授などを経て、1884年工部省に入り三池炭鉱に勤務。同鉱の三井払下げに伴い三井に移り、同鉱事務長を経て1894年三井合名会社専務理事となり、以後同社を主宰。三池炭鉱においてはイギリス製新鋭排水ポンプの導入、三池築港、三池炭利用による多角的重化学工業化を推進、三池を三井のドル箱に仕立て上げるとともに、筑豊炭田(ちくほうたんでん)進出や北海道炭礦(たんこう)汽船系列化にも成功した。このような技術、経営両面での手腕を高く評価され、1909年（明治42）三井合名会社参事に進み、さらに1914年（大正3）益田孝の後任として同社理事長に就任し、以後17年間三井財閥の最高指導者として君臨、三井をわが国最大の財閥コンツェルンとして完成させた。また、財界団体の結成に尽力、日本工業倶楽部(くらぶ)理事長、日本経済連盟会長などの要職を歴任し、財界のリーダーとしても活躍、浜口内閣が立案した労働組合法案を阻止した話は有名。1932年（昭和7）3月5日、三井本館前で右翼テロにより劇的な最期を遂げた（血盟団事件）。なお、団の妻は金子堅太郎の妹、三井合名理事牧田環(まきたたまき)は団の女婿、音楽家團伊玖磨(だんいくま)は団の孫にあたる。

［畠山秀樹］

『故団男爵伝記編纂委員会編・刊『男爵団琢磨伝』上下（1938）』▽『日本経済史研究会編『近代日本人物経済史　下』（1955・東洋経済新報社）』

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