The was a trading and shipping

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

and private

navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

, considered to be the first

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

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

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

in 1865 during the

Bakumatsu were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate Meiji Restoration, ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a Feudali ...

, and it was initially funded by the

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...

and other groups and domains. The logo of

SoftBank Group is a Japanese multinational investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services to customers in a m ...

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

Members of Kaientai

Born in Tosa Domain

* Sakamoto Ryōma – Commander and founder * Sasaki Takayuki – A second commanding officer of Kaientai after Ryōma's assassination. Would go on to become a privy councilor, cabinet minister and confidant of Emperor Meiji * Iwasaki Yatarou – Would go on to found Mitsuibishi in 1870 * Sawamura Sōnojho * Nagaoka Ken'ichi * Ishida Eikichi * Sakamoto Nao – Ryōma's adopted child * Sugano Kakubei * Jingū Umanosuke * Nomura Koreaki

Born in Kishū Domain

Mutsu Munemitsu Count was a Japanese diplomat and politician. He became Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan), Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1890 and worked to revise unequal treaties. He served as plenipotentiary at the Treaty of Shimonoseki, peace conference ...

– Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1892 – 1896

Born in Echizen Province

* Seki Yoshiomi * Watanabe Gōhachi * Odani Kōzō

References

External links

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