Nissan Group - NISSAN CONTZERUN

It is a representative emerging conglomerate that emerged in the early Showa period. Its origins date back to 1928 (Showa 3), when Aikawa Yoshisuke took over the management of the business of his brother-in-law, Fusanosuke Kuhara, whose family had gone bankrupt after World War I, and reorganized Kuhara Mining, the core company of the Kuhara family, into a publicly-held holding company, Nippon Sangyo Co., Ltd. Subsequently, during the economic recovery triggered by the Manchurian Incident and the re-ban on gold exports, Nippon Sangyo raised huge amounts of premium funds by offering shares in its affiliated companies to the public → increased capital through shareholder allotments of Nippon Sangyo and its affiliated companies → used the premium funds and paid-in capital to enter new business fields, or merged existing companies using these funds or by exchanging them for Nippon Sangyo shares → reorganized and consolidated these merged companies → spun off and became independent as subsidiaries → etc. In this manner, Nippon Sangyo expanded rapidly by repeating "conglomerate-like operations" that made full use of its structure and functions as a public holding company of Nippon Sangyo, and by the time the Sino-Japanese War broke out it had formed one of the largest corporate groups after the Mitsui and Mitsubishi zaibatsu, with 18 directly affiliated companies, such as Nippon Mining, Hitachi, Nippon Suisan, and Nissan Motor, 59 directly affiliated subsidiaries, and a total paid-in capital of 473.63 million yen. Furthermore, as the Japanese economy shifted to a wartime system, in 1937, at the request of the Manchukuo government and the Kwantung Army, Nissan relocated its headquarters, Nippon Sangyo, to Manchukuo, where it was reorganized as the semi-public, semi-private Manchuria Heavy Industry Development Company, which took over exclusive responsibility for industrial development in Manchuria from the South Manchuria Railway. However, Nissan's expansion into Manchuria was thwarted by the strengthening of wartime controls and the worsening war situation, as it failed to attract foreign capital, and also by its difficult relationship with the Kwantung Army. It collapsed with the dissolution of the zaibatsu after the war. However, many of its affiliated companies, including Hitachi and Nissan Motors, have grown into influential big businesses today.

[Masaru Udagawa]

"Japan's Zaibatsu and Their Dissolution, Volume 1 (1951)" edited and published by the Holding Company Reorganization Committee ; "Emerging Zaibatsu" by Udagawa Masaru (1984, Nihon Keizai Shimbun)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

昭和初年に勃興(ぼっこう)した新興財閥の代表的存在。鮎川義介(あいかわよしすけ)が第一次世界大戦後破綻(はたん)を呈した義弟久原(くはら)房之助家の事業経営を引き受け、1928年（昭和3）久原家の中核企業である久原鉱業を公開持株会社日本産業株式会社に改組したことを出発点とする。その後、満州事変、金輸出再禁止を契機とする経済回復過程のなかで、傘下企業株式の公開による巨額のプレミアム資金の獲得→日本産業および傘下企業の株主割当てによる増資→プレミアム資金、払込資本金を利用しての新事業分野進出、あるいはこれらの資金を利用しての、または日本産業の株式との交換による既存企業の合併→それら被合併企業などの整理統合→子会社として分離独立→……というぐあいに、日本産業の公開持株会社としての機構、機能をフルに活用した「コングロマリット的操作」を繰り返すことによって急膨張を遂げ、日中戦争勃発時には日本鉱業、日立製作所、日本水産、日産自動車などの直系18社、直系子会社59社、その払込資本金総額4億7363万円を擁する三井、三菱(みつびし)両財閥に次ぐ一大企業集団を形成した。さらに、日本経済が戦時体制に移行すると、1937年「満州国」政府および関東軍の要請を受けて、その本社日本産業を「満州国」に移転し、それを半官半民の満州重工業開発会社に改組、南満州鉄道にかわって満州の産業開発を独占的に担当した。しかし、日産の満州進出は、戦時統制の強化、戦局の悪化のなかで外資導入に失敗し、また関東軍との関係もうまくいかず、挫折(ざせつ)する。そして、戦後の財閥解体によって崩壊した。だがその傘下企業は、日立製作所、日産自動車をはじめ、今日、有力ビッグ・ビジネスに成長したものが多い。

［宇田川勝］

『持株会社整理委員会編・刊『日本財閥とその解体　上巻』（1951）』▽『宇田川勝著『新興財閥』（1984・日本経済新聞社）』

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