is a Japanese corporate group and ''

keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings that dominated the Japanese economy in the second half of the 20th century. In the legal sense, it is a type of business group that is in a loosely organized al ...

'' that traces its roots to the ''

zaibatsu is a Japanese language, Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertical integration, vertically integrated business conglomerate (company), conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over signifi ...

'' groups that were dissolved after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Unlike the ''zaibatsu'' of the pre-war period, there is no controlling company with regulatory power. Instead, the companies in the group hold shares in each other, but they are limited to exchanging information and coordinating plans through regular meetings. The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. ( general trading company),

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is a Japanese multinational banking financial services institution owned by the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, which is also known as the SMBC Group. It is headquartered in the same building as SMBC Group in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. ...

, Nippon Paper Industries, Pokka Sapporo Holdings,

Toray Industries is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan that specializes in industrial products centered on technologies in organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and biochemistry. Its founding business areas were fibers and textiles, ...

, Mitsui Chemicals,

Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings () is a holding company with the Mitsukoshi and Isetan department stores as its wholly owned subsidiaries. Operations In August 2007, Isetan Co. Ltd. and Mitsukoshi Ltd. announced that the two companies "have agreed to merge and form a new ho ...

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings , formerly Chuo Mitsui Trust Holdings, Inc., is a Japanese financial holding company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It provides an assortment of financial products to retail and wholesale customers, with a focus on asset management, financial ...

Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding () is a Japanese heavy industries company. Despite its name, it no longer builds ships and now focuses mainly on production of high-value ship equipment such as Marine propulsion, engines and automated gantry cranes. Mitsui E&S is the largest ...

, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and

Mitsui Fudosan is a major Japanese real estate developer with properties located globally. Mitsui Fudosan is one of the core companies of Mitsui Group. Corporate structure The company is organized into four divisions. *Office Building Division *Real Estate ...

History

Edo period origins

Founded by

Mitsui Takatoshi was the founder of the Mitsui family of merchants and industrialists that later emerged as the Mitsui Group, a powerful Japanese ''zaibatsu'' (business conglomerate). Life Mitsui was born in 1622, in Matsusaka, Ise Province (present-day M ...

(1622–1694), who was the fourth son of a shopkeeperRíkarðsson, Árni (2020). ''Origins of the Zaibatsu conglomerates''. Bachelor's thesis. Supervisor: Kristín Ingvarsdóttir. Reykjavik, University of Iceland, p. 15. in Matsusaka, in what became

Mie prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture an ...

. From his shop, called Echigoya (越後屋), Mitsui Takatoshi's father originally sold

miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning. It is a thick paste produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and kōji (the fungus ''Aspergillus oryzae''), and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients. It is used for sauces and spreads; p ...

and ran a

pawn shop A pawnbroker is an individual that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. A pawnbrokering business is called a pawnshop, and while many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, ...

. The family would later open a second shop in

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

(modern

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

). Takatoshi moved to Edo when he was 14 years old, and later his older brother joined him. Sent back to Matsusaka by his brother, Takatoshi waited for 24 years until his older brother died before he could take over the family shop, Echigoya. He opened a new branch in 1673; a large

gofukuya Gofuku (呉服) is a Japanese word meaning cloth (for Japanese clothes); kimono fabrics; textile; drapery; dry goods; or piece goods. kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn Garment collars in hanfu#Youren (right lapel), left side wrapped over ri ...

shop) in

Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan, which sprung up around the bridge of the same name that has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The curre ...

, a district in the heart of Edo. The genesis of Mitsui's business was in the ''

Enpō (contemporarily written as 延寳) is the after ''Kanbun'' and before '' Tenna.'' This period spanned the years from September 1673 to September 1681. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1673 : The new era of ''Enpō'' (meaning "Prolon ...

'' era, which was a ''

nengō The or , is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme. The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era (with the first year being "", meaning "origin, basis"), followed b ...

'' meaning "Prolonged Wealth". In time, the gofukuya division separated from Mitsui, and became

Mitsukoshi is an international Department stores in Japan, department store chain with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Its holding company, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, is a member of the Mitsui, Mitsui Group. History It was founded in 1673 with the (sho ...

. Traditionally, gofukuyas provided products made to order; a visit was made to the customer's house (typically a person of high social class or who was successful in business), an order taken, then fulfilled. The system of accountancy was called "margin transaction". Mitsui changed this by producing products first, then selling them directly at his shop for cash. This was then an unfamiliar mode of operation in Japan. Even as the shop began providing dry goods to the government of the city of Edo, cash sales were not yet a widespread business practice. Edo's government had struck a business deal with

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. Osaka would sell crops and other material to pay its land tax. The money was then sent to Edo—but moving money was dangerous in middle

feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC whe ...

. In 1683, the shogunate granted permission for money exchanges (''ryōgaeten'') to be established in Edo. The Mitsui "exchange shops" facilitated transfers while mitigating risks.

Formation of Mitsui ''zaibatsu''

After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, Mitsui was among the enterprises that were able to expand to become

not simply because they were already big and rich at the start of modern industrial development. Firms like Mitsui and Sumitomo were led by non-family managers such as Minomura Rizaemon, who guided the business by accurately forecasting the coming political and economic situations, by acquaintance with high-ranking government officials or politicians, and bold investment. Mitsui's main business in the early period was drapery, finance, and trade, the first two being the businesses it inherited from the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. It entered into mining when it acquired a mine as collateral from a loan it had made, partly because it could buy a mine cheaply from the government, Mitsui then diversified to become the biggest business in pre-war Japan. The diversification was mainly into related fields to take advantage of accumulated capabilities; for instance, the trading company entered into chemicals to attain forward integration.

On July 1, 1876, Mitsui Bank, Japan's first private bank, was founded with Masuda Takashi (1848–1938) as its president. Mitsui Bank, which following a merger with Taiyō-Kobe Bank in the mid-1980s became part of Sakura Bank, survives as part of the

. During the early 20th century, Mitsui was one of the largest

, operating in numerous fields. Mitsui Bank became the holding company of the Mitsui zaibatsu from 1876. It was joined as an ultimate parent company by Mitsui & Co. and Mitsui Mining in 1900, with various industrial concerns owned by various combinations of these companies and their subsidiaries. Likewise, Mitsui invested in maritime transportation to support its trading activities as well as invest in passenger transportation, first with the creation in 1878, of Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK), which was merged with Mitsui Steamship in 1964, to become Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), which became one of the largest ocean shipping groups in the world. When the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

withdrew from the

gold standard A gold standard is a backed currency, monetary system in which the standard economics, economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the ...

in 1931, during the height of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, Mitsui Bank and Mitsui & Co. were found to have speculated around the transaction. This raised a political furor in Japan and resulted in the assassination of Mitsui executive Dan Takuma. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Mitsui employed American

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

as slave laborers, some of whom were maimed by Mitsui employees.Unfinished Business
''Foreign Policy'', June 28, 2010

Postwar development as ''keiretsu''

In 1947 and 1948, the Supreme Commander Allied Powers pressed the Japanese government to dismantle the ten largest ''

'' conglomerates, including Mitsui. The Mitsui Group, broken into many separate companies, reorganized itself as a horizontal coalition of independent companies in the 1950s, once the

occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II from the surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945, at the war's end until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect on April 28, 1952. The occupation, led by the ...

had ended and some of the smaller companies were allowed to re-coalesce. The central firms in the ''keiretsu'' became

Mitsui Bank was a major Japanese bank from 1876 to 1990. The home bank of the Mitsui conglomerate, it was one of the largest Japanese banks for much of the 20th century, together with Dai-Ichi Bank, Mitsubishi Bank, Sumitomo Bank, and Yasuda / Fuji Bank. I ...

and Mitsui & Co. Mitsui lagged somewhat behind its rivals

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

and

Sumitomo Group The is a Japanese corporate group and ''keiretsu'' that traces its roots to the ''zaibatsu'' groups that were dissolved after World War II. Unlike the ''zaibatsu'' of the pre-war period, there is no controlling company with regulatory power. In ...

in reorganization. Mitsui Bank, which should have been the mainstay and principal capital provider of the group, declined in size due to the collapse of the Imperial Bank after the war, which resulted in reduced cohesion of the conglomerate. Many companies that were once part of the Mitsui Group have become independent or tied to other conglomerates. Specifically,

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

, Toyota Motors, and

Suntory (commonly referred to as simply Suntory) is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational brewing and distilling company group. Established in 1899, it is one of the oldest companies in the distribution of alcoholic beverages in Japan, and ...

, once part of the Mitsui Group, became independent, with the Toyota Group becoming a conglomerate in its own right. Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (

IHI Corporation , formerly known as is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that produces and offers ships, space launch vehicles, aircraft engines, marine diesel engines, gas turbines, gas engines, railway systems, turbocharge ...

) is now considered to be part of the Mizuho Group, and many companies in the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group are more closely tied to the

than the Mitsui Group. there were signs that

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG was created in 2005 by merger between and UFJ Holdings (株式会社UFJホールディングス; ''kabushikigaisha yūefujei hōrudingusu'' ...

and the

Mitsubishi Group The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 1946 ...

could be taking over other parts of the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. Mitsukoshi merged into Isetan, a major department store with close ties to the

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG was created in 2005 by merger between and UFJ Holdings (株式会社UFJホールディングス; ''kabushikigaisha yūefujei hōrudingusu'' ...

, to form Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings in April 2008.

Makeup of the Mitsui Group

Companies associated with the Mitsui keiretsu include Mitsui & Co.,

, Japan Steel Works, Mitsui Chemicals, Mitsui Construction Co.,

, Mitsui-gold, Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd., Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. (MOECO), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Mitsui Petrochemical Industries Ltd, Mitsui-Soko,

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group is a Japanese insurance holding company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MSIG was formed in 2001 from the merger of Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance Co. (itself descended from the Taishō Marine and Fire Insurance Co. founded in 1918) and The Sum ...

, Nippon Paper Industries, Pacific Coast Recycling,

, Taiheiyo Cement, TBS Holdings,

, Tri-net Logistics Management, and Mitsui Commodity Risk Management (MCRM).

Mitsui companies in the
Nikkei 225 The Nikkei 225, or , more commonly called the ''Nikkei'' or the ''Nikkei index'' (), is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It is a price-weighted index, operating in the Japanese yen, Japanese Yen (JP¥), and its compone ...

* Aim Services Co., Ltd * Denka *

* JA Mitsui Leasing * Japan Steel Works * Mitsui & Co. * Mitsui Chemicals *

* Mitsui Life Insurance Co. * Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd. * Mitsui O.S.K. Lines *

* Mitsui-Soko Holdings * Nippon Paper Industries * Nihon Unisys * Sanki Engineering *

Sapporo Brewery is a Japanese brewery, beer brewing company founded in 1876. Sapporo, the oldest brand of beer in Japan, was first brewed in Sapporo, Hokkaido, in 1876 by Seibei Nakagawa. The world headquarters of Sapporo Breweries is in Ebisu, Shibuya, Ebisu, ...

* Shin Nippon Air Technologies *

* Sumitomo Mitsui Construction * Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group *

* TBS Holdings *

* Toyo Engineering Corporation

Other investments

* Greater Anglia – Mitsui & Co owns 40% of the British rail operator. * West Midlands Trains - Mitsui owns 15% of the British rail operator. * BHP * Columbia Asia *

Fujifilm , trading as , or simply Fuji, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the areas of photography, optics, Office supplies, office and Biomedical engine ...

* IHH Healthcare Berhad – Mitsui & Co owns 20.5% of the company and is represented on its board. *

Ito-Yokado is a Japanese Hypermarket, general merchandise, shopping center, grocery store and department store originally founded in 1920. In 2005, it was reorganized, as part of a corporate restructuring, as a subsidiary of the Seven & I Holdings Co. ...

(

Seven & I Holdings Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. (株式会社セブン&アイ・ホールディングス, ) is a Japanese diversified retail holdings company headquartered in Nibanchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Nibanchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo. On September 1, 2005, it was esta ...

* Kanebo ( Kao Corporation) * Komatsu * Multi X ( Multiexport Foods)– Mitsui owns 24.5% of the company and is represented on its board. * Oji Paper Company - once had a transaction in its development on the purchase of several Mitsui subsidiaries by Oji. *

The Oriental Land Company The , also known as Oriental Land is a Japanese leisure and tourism company headquartered in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan where it also owns and operates the Tokyo Disney Resort. The company operates in three segments, divided as theme parks, hotels, ...

(

Keisei Electric Railway The (stylized as K'SEI since 2001) is a major private railway in Chiba Prefecture and Tokyo, Japan. The name ''Keisei'' is the combination of the kanji 京 from and 成 from , which the railway's main line connects; the combination uses diffe ...

) * Paul Stuart - wholly owned * Rio Tinto * Sagami Railway * Sims Metal – Mitsui & Co owns 18% of the company and is represented on its board. *

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municip ...

* Yamaha *

Yanmar is a Japanese diesel engine, heavy machinery and agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1912. Yanmar manufactures and sells engines used in a wide range of applications, including seagoing vessels, pleasure boats, cons ...

Citations

General sources

* Hall, John Whitney (1970). ''Japan: From Prehistory to Modern Times''. Delacorte Universal History no. XX. New York: Delacorte Press. . * Shinjō, Hiroshi (1962). ''History of the Yen: 100 Years of Japanese Money-economy''. Kobe: Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kōbe University.

External links

The Mitsui Public Relations Committee

The Tsunamachi Mitsui Club

{{Authority control Companies established in 1876 Companies in the Nikkei 225 Conglomerate companies based in Tokyo Japanese companies established in 1876 Keiretsu Sumitomo Group Zaibatsu Japanese war crimes