Yawata Steel Works

Japanese: 八幡製鉄所 - やわたせいてつじょ

Formerly Japan's largest steel company. In the mid-Meiji period, the demand for steel increased, especially after the Sino-Japanese War. In order to strengthen the military and increase production of steel for industrial use, the 9th Imperial Diet passed a bill to build a government-run steelworks in 1896. Construction began the following year in 1897 in Edamitsu, Yahata Village, Fukuoka Prefecture (today's Yahata Higashi Ward, Kitakyushu City), backed by the Chikuho coalfields. The German company Guthehoffnungshütte was in charge of the design and construction. In 1899, a long-term contract was signed to use iron ore from the Daye iron mine in Hubei Province, China, and on February 5, 1901, the company began operations as Japan's first integrated pig iron and steel mill. When it was first established, it was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, but in 1925 it came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. After the Russo-Japanese War, it made great strides and became a major factory in the Kitakyushu industrial region. Its initial production target was 60,000 tons, but after a dozen years of operation, it accounted for 70-80% of the national production. In 1934, it became part of Nippon Steel Corporation as part of the Great Steel Merger. After World War II, in 1950, Nippon Steel Corporation was divided under the Law for the Elimination of Excessive Concentration of Economic Power, and Yawata Steel Corporation was established as its second company together with Fuji Steel Corporation. In 1970, it merged with Fuji Steel Corporation again to become Nippon Steel Corporation. In 2015, the facilities related to the government-run Yawata Steel Works were registered as a World Heritage Site as part of the "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding, and Coal Mining" in recognition of their central role in the development of heavy industry that promoted the modernization of Japan before the war. (→ Steel Industry)

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

かつての日本最大の鉄鋼会社。明治中頃，特に日清戦争を契機として鉄鋼の需要が増え，また軍備増強および産業資材用鉄鋼の生産増大をはかるため，1896年の第9回帝国議会で官営製鉄所建設案が可決，翌 1897年筑豊炭田を後背に抱える福岡県八幡村枝光（今日の北九州市八幡東区）で建設が開始された。設計から建設までをドイツのグーテホフヌングスヒュッテが担当。1899年中国湖北省ターイエ（大冶）鉄鉱山の鉄鉱を原料とする長期契約が結ばれ，1901年2月5日，日本初の銑鋼一貫製鉄所（→銑鋼一貫作業）として操業を開始。設立当初は農商務省の管轄であったが，1925年商工省の所管となった。日露戦争後は飛躍的発展を遂げて北九州工業地域の主要工場となり，当初 6万tの生産を目標にしていたが，操業十数年後には全国生産の 7～8割を占めた。1934年製鉄大合同により日本製鉄所属となり，第2次世界大戦後の 1950年，日本製鉄が過度経済力集中排除法の適用を受けて分割されたことにより，富士製鉄とともにその第二会社，八幡製鉄として発足。1970年再び富士製鉄と合併して新日本製鐵となった。戦前日本の近代化を推進する重工業の発展過程において中心的役割を果たした存在であるとして，2015年，官営八幡製鉄所関連施設が「明治日本の産業革命遺産：製鉄・製鋼，造船，石炭産業」として世界遺産の文化遺産に登録された。（→鉄鋼業）

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