The was a trading and shipping company and private

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

, considered to be the first

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

in modern Japan. Kaientai, originally named Kameyama Shachū (亀山社中, "Kameyama Troupe"), was founded by

Sakamoto Ryōma was a Japanese ''samurai'', a '' shishi'' and influential figure of the ''Bakumatsu'' and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period. He was a low-ranking ''samurai'' from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an active oppo ...

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

in 1865 during the

Bakumatsu was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji governm ...

, and it was initially funded by the Satsuma Domain and other groups and domains. The logo of

SoftBank Group is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vi ...

is based on the idea of a "21st century Kaientai".

Members of Kaientai

Born in Tosa Domain

– a commanding officer of Kaientai * Iwasaki Yatarou * Sawamura Sōnojho *

Sasaki Takayuki Marquis was a bureaucrat, government minister and court official in late Meiji period Japan. Biography Sasaki was born into a samurai class family in Agawa District, Tosa Domain (in the present-day city of Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture). He ser ...

– a second commanding officer of Kaientai after Ryōma's death * Nagaoka Ken'ichi * Ishida Eikichi * Sakamoto Nao – Ryōma's adopted child * Sugano Kakubei * Jingū Umanosuke * Nomura Koreaki

Born in Echizen Province

* Seki Yoshiomi * Watanabe Gōhachi * Odani Kōzō

Born in Kishū Domain

Mutsu Munemitsu Count was a Japanese statesman and diplomat in Meiji period Japan. Early life Mutsu Munemitsu was born in Wakayama domain, Kii Province as the sixth son of Date Munehiro, a ''samurai'' retainer of the Kii Tokugawa clan. His father was acti ...

References

External links

Nagasaki Kameyamashachū Memorial Museum
''(Japanese)'' {{Authority control Nagasaki 1860s establishments in Japan Meiji Restoration Japanese Navy Shipping companies of Japan