Hikojiro Nakagawa

Japanese: 中上川彦次郎 - なかみがわ・ひこじろう

Year of death: October 7, 1901 (Meiji 34)
Year of birth: 1854.10.4 (1854.18.13)
A Meiji era businessman. A representative manager of the Mitsui Zaibatsu. He transformed the Mitsui Zaibatsu from a political business line to a modern management style aiming to make the country a commercial and industrial nation. He was the eldest son of Nakagamigawa Saizō and Wan, a samurai of the Nakatsu domain in Bungo Province (Oita Prefecture). Wan was the second daughter of Fukuzawa Hyakusuke, a samurai of the Nakatsu domain, and the older sister of Fukuzawa Yukichi. As a boy, he studied Chinese classics in Nakatsu, but aspired to study Western studies under his uncle Yukichi, and in 1869 (Meiji 2) at the age of 16, he received permission from the domain to go to Tokyo and enter Keio Gijuku. After studying at Keio Gijuku for about two and a half years while living in Fukuzawa's house, he went to his hometown of Nakatsu at Fukuzawa's instruction to establish and teach at a city school. He was later dispatched from Keio Gijuku at the request of Kamiyama Prefecture (Ehime Prefecture) to supervise the establishment and operation of Western schools in Ozu and Uwajima, and also taught English classes, but his main job was as a teacher at Keio Gijuku. He stayed in England for almost three years, from 1884 to 1888, during which he studied and learned about the systems and circumstances of Western Europe. All expenses were provided by Fukuzawa. In London, he became acquainted with Inoue Kaoru, a member of the House of Councillors who was visiting England, which marked a turning point in his life. After returning to Japan, he edited the daily newspaper Minin Zasshi (Minna Zasshi) published by Fukuzawa, but it was forced to cease publication due to pressure from the government. Soon after, at the request of Inoue, who had become a councillor and Minister of Public Works, he began working at the Ministry of Public Works, and when Inoue became Minister of Foreign Affairs, he began working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was appointed Director of the Public Communications Bureau. However, his life as a bureaucrat ended after about three years from 1888. This was because Okuma Shigenobu and most of the people associated with Fukuzawa were dismissed from their posts due to the so-called "political upheaval of 1881." After his retirement from the government, in 1882, he founded the Jiji Shimpo with Fukuzawa, and he became president of Keio University Publishing House (Jiji Shimposha) and also served as editor-in-chief. When the Sanyo Railway Company was founded in 1947, he was chosen as a representative of the founding committee, and became president the following year. However, again at Inoue's request, he was invited to join the Mitsui zaibatsu as a director of Mitsui Bank in 1941. At the time, Mitsui Bank was in the midst of financial difficulties due to bad loans, a negative legacy of the traditional political-business line, and Inoue was chosen by the government to turn it around. Fukuzawa also strongly encouraged and encouraged him to join Mitsui. His achievements as a director and then vice president (later managing director) of Mitsui Bank were enormous. He declined to handle government financing and severed the collusion between political and business leaders, thereby wiping out the bad loans and successfully turning around Mitsui Bank. He nurtured industrial companies such as Kanebo and Shibaura Manufacturing under the Mitsui umbrella, and put into practice Fukuzawa's management philosophy of a nation based on commerce and industry. He also recruited many Keio University graduates, including Fujiyama Raita, Muto Sanji, Wada Toyoji, Ikeda Seihin, Hibi Osuke, Hiraga Satoshi, and Fujiwara Ginjiro, on the condition of high salaries, and allowed them to demonstrate their abilities. In this way, he established the management foundation for the modernization of the Mitsui zaibatsu, but his intellectual and decisive actions met with strong opposition, and due to the slump in the industrial management that he had nurtured with the bank's financial resources, he came under attack from Mitsui family members, Inoue Kaoru, and Masuda Takashi of Mitsui & Co., and died of illness at the young age of 47 in the midst of such adverse circumstances. Fujiwara Aki, who became a member of the House of Councillors, was his own son. <References> Nakagamigawa Hikojiro Biographical Materials, compiled by the Japan Business History Institute

(Hidemasa Morikawa)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治34.10.7(1901)
生年：安政1.8.13(1854.10.4)
明治時代の実業家。三井財閥の代表的経営者。三井財閥を政商路線から転換させ,商工立国を志向する近代経営に再編した。豊後国(大分県)中津藩士中上川才蔵と婉の長男。婉は中津藩士福沢百助の次女で福沢諭吉の姉。少年時中津で漢学を修めるが,叔父諭吉の下で洋学を学ぶことを志し,明治2(1869)年,16歳で藩の許可を得て東京に出,慶応義塾に入学した。福沢の家に居住しながら約2年半慶応義塾に学んだのち,福沢の指示により郷里中津に赴き,市学校の設立と教育に当たった。その後も神山県(愛媛県)の要請により慶応義塾から派遣され,大洲と宇和島の洋学校の設立運営を指導し,英語の授業も担当したが,主たる職務は慶応義塾教師であった。7年から10年まで,ほぼ3年間イギリスに滞在,西欧の制度,事情の独学,見聞に努めた。費用はすべて福沢が工面した。ロンドンにおいて,訪英中の元老院議官井上馨の知遇を得たことが運命の岐路となった。帰国後,福沢が発行する日刊新聞『民間雑誌』の編集に当たるが,政府側の圧迫により廃刊の憂き目にあった。その直後,参議兼工部卿に就任した井上の要望により工部省に出仕し,井上が外務卿に転じると,外務省に勤務,公信局長に登用された。しかし,官僚生活は11年からの約3年で終わる。いわゆる「明治14年の政変」により,大隈重信および福沢の関係者の大部分が免官処分を受けたからである。退官後,15年福沢と共に『時事新報』を創刊し,自ら慶応義塾出版社(時事新報社)の社長に就任,編集長を兼ねた。20年の山陽鉄道会社創立と同時に創立委員総代に選ばれ,翌年社長に就任した。ところが再び井上の要請により,24年三井銀行理事として三井財閥に招かれた。当時,三井銀行は伝統的政商路線の悪しき遺産たる不良債権による経営難のさなかにあり,政府筋から立て直しを頼まれた井上が白羽の矢を立てたのである。三井入りについては福沢も大いに勧め,激励した。三井銀行理事,さらに副長(のち専務理事)としての業績は絶大であった。官金取扱を辞退,政商的結託関係を切り捨てることで不良債権を一掃,三井銀行の経営立て直しに成功した。三井傘下に鐘紡,芝浦製作所など工業会社を育成し,福沢譲りの商工立国の経営思想を実践した。さらに藤山雷太,武藤山治,和田豊治,池田成彬,日比翁助,平賀敏,藤原銀次郎ら慶応卒の数多くの人材を高給を条件に中途採用し,能力を発揮させた。こうして三井財閥の近代化の経営基盤を確立したが,その理知的で果断な行動には反発も強く,銀行の資力を注いで育てた工業経営の不振もあって,三井家同族,井上馨,三井物産の益田孝らの攻撃を受け,逆境下に47歳の若さで病没した。参議院議員となった藤原あきは実子。<参考文献>日本経営史研究所編『中上川彦次郎伝記資料』

(森川英正)

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