Iwasaki Yatarō

Iwasaki Yatarō (岩崎 弥太郎) was born on January 9, 1835, in Aki, Tosa Province, which is present-day Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. He was born into a provincial family engaged in farming. His family belonged to the samurai warrior class, although his great-great-grandfather, Iwasaki Yajiemon (岩崎弥次右衛門), had sold the family’s samurai status to settle debts during the Great Tenmei famine. The Iwasaki family traced their origins to the Iwasaki clan, a branch of the Takeda clan of Kai Province. The clan's ancestor was Iwasaki Nobutaka (岩崎信隆), also known as Takeda Shichirō (武田七郎), who was the fifth son of Takeda Nobumitsu. Historically, the Iwasaki clan served the Aki clan (安芸氏) and the Chōsokabe clan (長宗我部氏) during the Battle of Sekigahara on October 21, 1600.

Yatarō Iwasaki began his career working for the Yamauchi clan, the ruling family of the Tosa Domain. At nineteen, he moved to Edo (Tokyo) to pursue education; however, his studies were disrupted a year later due to his father's injury in a dispute with the village headman. Iwasaki accused the local magistrate of corruption for refusing to hear his father's case, which led to his imprisonment for seven months after being expelled from his village. Following his release, he spent some time unemployed before working as a tutor. During this period, he returned to Edo and associated with political reformist activists. He studied under Yoshida Tōyō, a reformist from Tosa Province who promoted ideas of modernization, industry, and foreign trade.

Through Yoshida's influence, Iwasaki obtained employment as a clerk for the Yamauchi government. He managed to regain his family’s samurai status during this time. Later, he was promoted to the position at the Yamauchi clan's trading office in Nagasaki, Hizen Province. His responsibilities included trading camphor oil and paper, and procuring ships, weapons, and ammunition.

Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, which resulted in the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate and the abolition of the feudal system, Yatarō Iwasaki traveled to Osaka. In March 1870, he became president of the Tsukumo Trading Company, a shipping enterprise established on behalf of the Yamauchi clan, and took control of the trading rights. In 1873, the company was renamed Mitsubishi, combining the words "mitsu" (three) and "hishi" (diamond or water chestnut), symbolized visually by the overlapping lozenges of the family crest and the Yamauchi crest with three oak leaves.

Between 1874 and 1875, Mitsubishi was contracted by the Japanese government to transport soldiers and military supplies, notably during the Japanese expedition to Taiwan against the Paiwan Aborigines. The ships used in this campaign were subsequently transferred to Mitsubishi, establishing a close relationship between the company and the government. Mitsubishi also supported military efforts during the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877. The company's success was pivotal to Japan's modernization and economic development, forming part of the group known as the "Big Four" zaibatsu companies.

In 1885, Mitsubishi's shipping activities merged with Kyodo Unyu Kaisha, founded in 1882, resulting in the formation of Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), one of the largest shipping groups globally. During this period, Iwasaki expanded Mitsubishi into mining, shipbuilding, and finance, acquiring the Nagasaki Shipyard in 1884 and renaming it the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, which is now part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Yatarō Iwasaki died of stomach cancer on February 7, 1885, at the age of 50. Subsequent leadership of the company was undertaken by his brother, Iwasaki Yanosuke, and later his son, Hisaya. In 1903, Iwasaki's fourth daughter, Masako, married Baron Kijūrō Shidehara, Japan's first Prime Minister after World War II.