Mitsui Takayoshi

Japanese: 三井高福 - みつい・たかよし

Year of death: December 20, 1885 (Meiji 18)
Year of birth: Bunka 5.9.26 (1808.11.14)
The eighth head of the Mitsui family, a wealthy merchant family in the Edo period. Son of Takanari. His mother was Retsu. In 1837, he took on the name of the 13th generation Hachiroemon. In 1849, he separated the two Ren families from his family and worked to reform the family's management during the difficult financial period after the Tenpo period. When the port of Yokohama was opened, he accepted foreign financial purveyors and opened a Yokohama store, actively trying to enter new businesses, but at the end of the Edo period, he was forced into a difficult situation due to losses at the Yokohama store and government subsidies from the shogunate. However, he was able to discern the direction of the political situation, and when the Toba-Fushimi War broke out, he made a donation to the Imperial Court, quickly making clear his support for the anti-shogunate faction. After the Meiji Restoration, he strengthened his ties with the government by serving as the head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's financial and grain accounting department and president of a foreign exchange company, and became the first president of the Mitsui Bank, which was established in 1876. His generous personality is evident in the fact that he promoted Toshizaemon Minomura and used him highly. <References>Mitsui Bunko ed., "Mitsui Business History," main volume 1, 2

(Takayuki Kagawa)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治18.12.20(1885)
生年：文化5.9.26(1808.11.14)
江戸時代の豪商三井家惣領家の8代目。高就の子。母は列。天保8(1837)年に13代八郎右衛門を襲名した。嘉永2(1849)年に2連家を同族から切り離すなど天保期以降の経営難の時期に家政の改革に取り組んだ。横浜が開港されると外国方御金御用達を引き受け,横浜店を開くなど新事業に積極的に進出しようとしたが,幕末期には横浜店の欠損や幕府の御用金によって苦境に追い込まれた。しかし,政局の行方を見極めて鳥羽・伏見戦争が起こるや朝廷側に献金して討幕派への加担をいちはやく鮮明にした。明治維新後は御東幸金穀出納取締や為替会社総頭取を務めるなど政府との結びつきを強め,明治9(1876)年に設立された三井銀行の初代総長となっている。三野村利左衛門を抜擢して重く用いたところにその包容力のある人柄が表れている。<参考文献>三井文庫編『三井事業史』本編1巻,2巻

(賀川隆行)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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