Mitsui family

The family has a long history as wealthy merchants dating back to the early modern period, and formed the largest zaibatsu (final conglomerate) in Japan before the Second World War. Their ancestors are said to have been vassals of the Rokkaku Sasaki family of Omi (Shiga Prefecture), and later adopted a son from the Sasaki family, who adopted the family crest, the four-eyed crest, and the family deity, Sasaki Shrine. After the fall of the Sasaki family, the family moved to Ise (Mie Prefecture), and under the rule of Norihe Takatoshi (died 1633), the son of Mitsui Echigonokami Takayasu (died 1610), they opened a pawnbroker and sake shop in Matsusaka (Matsusaka City). Takatoshi's wife, Shuho (Nagai family, Nyu village, Taki county), was a strong-willed woman with great business acumen, and was the actual founder of the Mitsui family as a merchant family. His eldest son, Saburozaemon Toshitsugu, went to Edo early and became a successful kimono merchant. He first helped his brother in his store, then returned to Matsuzaka to set up his own banking business. After his brother's death in 1673 (Enpo 1), Takatoshi opened a separate kimono store called Echigoya in Edo Honmachi 1-chome (Chuo-ku, Tokyo) and set up a purchasing store in Kyoto. Around 1681 (Tenwa 1), he changed the sign on the shop curtain, and in 1683 moved the store to Suruga-cho, proclaiming an innovative business method of "selling cash and silver at low prices with no markup" and also opening a money exchange. He prospered rapidly by accepting public money exchanges for the shogunate. In his will in February of the year of his death (1694), Takatoshi specified the percentage of his inheritance to his sons, and strongly expressed his wish not to divide it. Takatoshi's will was established as an organization to unify the management of the household and business, the "Omotokata" (1710), and was institutionalized in the will of the second lord Takahira (Souchiku), "Souchiku Isho" (1722), solidifying the style of joint management and sharing of family property among the same family of "six main families, three affiliated families, and nine combined families." This system was maintained in principle until the dissolution of the zaibatsu after World War II, except for a period of about 20 years around the end of the 18th century when it was divided into two. In the latter half of the Edo period, the Mitsui family expanded their business by spreading their collection network for raw silk, silk fabrics, cotton, and cotton throughout the country, and by providing commercial loans to wholesale merchants. However, as the end of the Edo period approached, the business suffered from a slump in business and the repeated imposition of government taxes. However, during the Meiji Restoration, they supported the anti-shogunate faction and cooperated with the new government's financial policies, laying the foundation for their eventual development from political businessman to zaibatsu.

[Mitsui Reiko]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

近世前期からの豪商として古い歴史をもち、第二次世界大戦前、日本最大の財閥を形成した家。先祖は近江(おうみ)（滋賀県）の六角(ろっかく)佐々木氏の家臣といわれ、のち佐々木氏から養子を迎えたのでその紋所四ツ目を家紋とし、佐々木神社を氏神としている。佐々木氏没落後、伊勢(いせ)（三重県）に移り、三井越後守高安(えちごのかみたかやす)（1610没）の子則兵衛高俊(のりへえたかとし)（1633没）のとき松坂（松阪市）で質屋、酒屋を始めた。高俊の妻殊法(しゅうほう)（多気(たき)郡丹生(にゅう)村永井氏）は商才に富んだ気丈な女で、商家としての三井家の実際の創業者であった。その長男三郎左衛門俊次(としつぐ)は早く江戸へ出て呉服商として成功した。初め兄の店を手伝い、のち松坂に戻って独立し、金融業を営んでいた末弟高利は、1673年（延宝1）長兄の没後、別に江戸本町一丁目（東京都中央区）に呉服店越後屋(えちごや)を開業し、京都に仕入店(しいれだな)を設けた。1681年（天和1）ころ暖簾(のれん)印を改め、さらに1683年には店を駿河(するが)町に移して、「現銀安売無掛値(かけねなし)」の革新商法を掲げると同時に両替店を創設。幕府の公金為替(かわせ)を引き受けるなどのことによって、急激に繁栄した。高利は没年（1694）2月遺言して、子息たちに遺産配分の割歩(わりふ)を定めるとともに、分割を行わないことを強く希望した。高利の遺志は、家政と営業を一元的に統轄する機関として「大元方(おおもとかた)」設置（1710）と、2代高平（法名宗竺(そうちく)）の遺書「宗竺遺書」（1722）によって制度化され、「本家六軒、連家(れんけ)三軒、合九軒」の同族による家産の共有、共同経営の様式が固められた。この制度はその後18世紀の末ごろ20年余り2分割された時期を除けば、原理として第二次大戦後の財閥解体のときまで維持された。江戸時代の後半に、三井家の経営は、生糸、絹織物、綿花、木綿の集荷網を全国に張り、かつ問屋商人に対する商業金融を手広く営んで事業を拡張したが、幕末に近づくにつれて事業の不振、たび重なる御用金の賦課などに苦しんだ。しかし明治維新期には討幕派を支援し、新政府の財政政策に協力し、やがて政商から財閥へと発展する素地を築いた。

［三井礼子］

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