Yataro Iwasaki: Founder of Mitsubishi and Pioneer of Japan’s Industrialization

Yataro Iwasaki, born on January 9, 1835, in Tosa Province, Japan, was the visionary founder of Mitsubishi, one of Japan’s largest and most influential conglomerates. Coming from a family that had lost its samurai status due to financial difficulties, Iwasaki’s early life was marked by hardship. His family’s financial struggles left a profound impact on him. His father, a former samurai, faced an unfortunate turn of events when he was injured in a dispute and later imprisoned for accusing a local magistrate of corruption. These experiences fostered in Iwasaki a deep understanding of resilience and the importance of strategy in overcoming adversity.

Iwasaki’s career began with his involvement in the Tosa clan, where his work ethic and intelligence quickly propelled him through the ranks. His rise was influenced by Yoshida Toyo, a prominent reformist thinker who advocated for modernization and economic development. Toyo’s ideas inspired Iwasaki to recognize the potential for Japan to evolve into a modern industrial state. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which marked the end of Japan’s feudal system, Iwasaki took a bold step in transitioning the Tosa clan's trading operations into a private venture. This move reflected his forward-thinking vision of how commerce could drive Japan's future.

In 1870, Iwasaki founded the Tsukumo Trading Company, which was renamed Mitsubishi in 1873. The name “Mitsubishi,” meaning “three diamonds,” symbolized the company’s foundational values of trust, reliability, and quality. Iwasaki’s leadership saw Mitsubishi diversify its operations, branching into industries like mining, shipbuilding, and finance. His forward-thinking approach not only cemented Mitsubishi’s role in Japan’s industrialization but also laid the groundwork for its future as a global powerhouse.

Iwasaki’s death in 1885 did not mark the end of his influence; his innovative vision continues to define Mitsubishi’s global presence today.
Yataro Iwasaki: Founder of Mitsubishi and Pioneer of Japan’s Industrialization

Kintarō Hattori (1860 - 1934)

Kintarō Hattori was the son of a trader established in Tokyo. He had both commercial and technical training.

At the age thirteen he entered a textile company and was engaged the following year by Kobayashi Denjiro, one of the main watch and clock traders in Japan who gave him technical education.

Hattori began his career by opening his own time piece shop in 1881. At that time, it operated as a trading company which imported Swiss-made watches. Seizing every opportunity that came his way, this Japanese business visionary soon moved into wholesaling, direct and tradinghouse importing, and independent manufacturing.

Hattori started making his own timepieces in 1892 by building a small, experimental production facility. The next year he geared up and built a true factory in Honjo Yanagishima and named the organization Seiko.

His watches were so well made that they were given as gifts by the Imperial Household. He named his watches Seiko meaning “precision,” a name and a reputation they have maintained.

When the First World War started in 1914 Seiko benefited greatly from the earlier dominance of German alarm clocks on the British and French markets: British and French order switched to Japan.
Kintarō Hattori (1860 - 1934)

Yatarō Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi

Iwasaki Yatarō was born in the Tosa domain on December 11, 1834 into a family of former rural samurai status. He was a diligent though mischievous student, and unlike many contemporary samurai he appears to have made a conscious decision to study business and eschew activate politics movement.

Frustrated by discrimination because of the family’s satis as low-ranking samurai and applied by the way Japan’s trade was subordinated to foreign concerns, he swiftly gained a reputation for being impetus and aggressive but also possessing a shrewd business sense and excellent negotiating scales.

The most important influence on Yatarō was Yoshida Toyo, a Tosa official in charge of trade and industry who was the domains leading proponent of Western learning.

Yatarō directed the company Tosa Shoji in Nagasaki in 1867 reorganising it as Tsukumo Co. and transferring it to Osaka, where it became Mitsubishi in 1873. Yatarō became head of the clan;s Osaka branch in 1869 which was then separated from the Tosa clan management and set it up private firm, Tsukumo Shokai, in 1870.

Until 1881 Yatarō could be considered to be a seisho, a merchant who made use of government contacts to build a commercial empire, Yatarō’s particular government support as from Tosimichi Okubo and other progressive bureaucrats.

Iwasaki died of stomach cancer aged 50.
Yatarō Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi

Soichiro Honda – Japanese engineer and industrialist

Soichiro Honda (November 17, 1906 – August 5, 1991) was born in Yamahigashi, which is located in the center of the Japanese mainland. It was near his home that he first saw an automobile coming down the country road.

He father Gihei was a blacksmith.  Form the time he was a small child, Soichiro was always around his father, observing him at work. At the tender age so 15, he began an apprenticeship as a mechanic in Tokyo. Since he was diligent and industrious, he mastered all the techniques of auto repair in four years.

At 21 years of age he opened his own repair shop. He then moved into manufacture, starting with an initially unsuccessful venture in making position rings – he lacked necessary knowledge. Honda’s love of cars extended to racing them, and he set a new record speed record in 1936.

He then developed his own design of piston ring in 1938 and won the contract with Toyota. However during World War 2, his entire piston manufacturing facilities was destroyed. Then he started a new company and attached the engine to the bicycle which cheaper and efficient.

In October 1946, after the end of the war, Soichiro established the Honda Technical Research Institute the forerunner of the Honda Motor Company in the city of Hamamatsu.

The organization’s main project was refitting small wartime surplus engines to bicycles. This project soon led Soichiro to manufacture his own motorcycle.

In 1948, Soichiro teamed up with Takeo Fujisawa, an investor and businessman to launch the Honda Motor Company, with Soichiro as the president. Soichiro retained responsibility for engineering, while Fujisawa dealt with marketing and sales.
Soichiro Honda – Japanese engineer and industrialist