Noguchi Jun - Noguchi Jun

Founder of the Nitchitsu Konzern. Born in Ishikawa Prefecture. His name can also be read as "Jun." After graduating from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the Imperial University in 1896 (Meiji 29), he worked at Koriyama Electric Light, the Japanese branch of Siemens-Schuckert, and a carbide manufacturing plant in Sankyozawa, Sendai, before founding Sogi Electric in 1906 (Meiji 39). Using the surplus electricity from this company, he established Japan Carbide Shokai in 1908, and in the same year merged the two companies to establish Nippon Chisso Fertilizer (Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture). The company began manufacturing calcium carbonate nitrogen (Franck-Carreau process) and metamorphosed ammonium sulfate. In 1923 (Taisho 12), his bold entrepreneurial spirit and precise insight led to the first successful production of synthetic ammonia (Casale process) in Japan. After that, in parallel with the construction of a succession of large-capacity hydroelectric power plants, the company expanded into the electrochemical industry, such as synthetic ammonium sulfate, explosives, and "Bemberg" fiber, which were made possible by the multipurpose use of synthetic ammonia, as well as coal liquefaction and light metals businesses, which were dependent on military demand, building up major chemical complexes in Minamata, Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, and Korea. These businesses were carried out by numerous subsidiaries, forming the Nitchitsu Konzern (Noguchi Konzern), one of the new zaibatsu. Noguchi was not only a brilliant engineer but also a dictatorial businessman, and was known as the "business king of the peninsula" due to the grand scale of his business expansion, especially in Korea. However, after the establishment of the conglomerate in 1940 (Showa 15), he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in Keijo (now Seoul), and gradually withdrew from the business. In the following New Year of 1966, he wrote a poem entitled "The first sunrise of the year, waking up from a thirty-year dream," donated his entire personal fortune of 30 million yen, and passed away at the age of 72 in January 1944, before the end of the war.

[Masahiro Shitaya]

"Noguchi Jun" by Yoshioka Kiichi (1962, Fuji International Consultant Publishing Division) " "The Life of Noguchi Jun" by Shibamura Yogo (1981, Yuhikaku)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日窒コンツェルンの創設者。石川県出身。名は「じゅん」とも読む。1896年（明治29）帝国大学工科大学電気工学科卒業後、郡山電灯、シーメンス・シュッケルト社日本出張所、仙台三居沢のカーバイド製造所などを経て、1906年（明治39）曽木電気を設立、その余剰電力を活用して08年日本カーバイド商会を設立、さらに同年両社を合併して日本窒素肥料（熊本県水俣(みなまた)）を設立した。同社では石灰窒素（フランク・カロー法）、変成硫安の製造が開始された。また23年（大正12）には、果敢な企業者精神と緻密(ちみつ)な洞察力とによってわが国最初の合成アンモニア（カザレー法）の製造に成功。以後、相次ぐ大容量水力発電所の建設と並行して、合成アンモニアの多目的利用による合成硫安、火薬、「ベンベルグ」繊維などの電気化学工業、あるいは軍需に依存した石炭液化、軽金属事業などへの展開によって、水俣、宮崎県延岡(のべおか)、さらに朝鮮において一大化学コンビナートを築き上げた。これらの事業は数多くの子会社によって担われ、新興財閥の一つたる日窒コンツェルン（野口コンツェルン）を形成した。野口は卓抜な技術者であるとともに独裁的事業家でもあり、とくに朝鮮における事業展開のスケールの壮大さから「半島の事業王」とよばれた。しかし、コンツェルン確立後の40年（昭和15）には京城(けいじょう)（現ソウル）で脳溢血(のういっけつ)に倒れ、しだいに事業からは手を引いた。翌41年の正月には「三十年の夢からさめて初日の出」と詠じ、全私財3000万円を寄付するなどして、終戦を待たずに昭和19年1月に72歳で死去した。

［下谷政弘］

『吉岡喜一著『野口遵』（1962・フジ・インターナショナル・コンサルタント出版部）』▽『柴村羊五著『野口遵伝』（1981・有斐閣）』

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