type:Departmental Bulletin Paper

This paper will reveal and clarify the managementstructure of Fuji Bouseki Inc., which isflourishing as one of the leading companies inthe cotton spinning industry, which played akey role in Japan’s industrial revolution. Thefocus here is to identify what kind of peoplewere involved in the foundation of the company,when they started to come together, whatbusiness philosophy brought them together tobuild an entrepreneur’s network, and how theywent about establishing the company. The following are answers to these questions. Firstly, it was a group of people called SuiryokuGumi, or Water Power Team, whopushed forward the inception of the company.They were striving to industrialize the nationby harnessing Japan’s hydraulic power. Thisnetwork was formed by Tetsunosuke Tomita, aformer vice consul in New York and Bank ofJapan governor; Tomotsune Koumuchi, a formerbureaucrat in the Ministry of Finance; Hideji Kawase, a former bureaucrat in theTrade Encouragement Bureau of the Ministryof Interior; Ichiro Murata, a board member of apaper company; and Ichizaemon Morimura, atrading merchant, sometime between 1874 and1882 when they closely interacted with one anotherthrough business activities relating toJapan-U.S. trade and the Bank of Japan. As ateam they planned to exploit the rich waterpower at the foot of Mt. Fuji to start a paper company. Secondly, what bound them together was aphilosophy that Japan should be turned intoan industrial nation by cutting imports andpromoting exports so that the newcomer tothe early modern world would be able to maintainits independence against the WesternGreat Powers, and that abundant water resourcesshould serve as a pillar to this end. This idea was passed down from their mentors:Kaishu Katsu, a consummate samurai, andYukichi Fukuzawa, an author, educator, entrepreneur and political theorist. Thirdly, their attempt to establish a papercompany by using hydraulic power around1882 ended in failure. Nevertheless, from 1887they successfully founded the Fuji Paper Corporation by the same means and set up amachine-based cotton fabric manufacturingcompany called Onagigawa Mempu Corporationin Tokyo. Making the best of thisexperience, they managed to establish FujiBouseki Inc. with a large factory using waterresources at the foot of Mt. Fuji in 1896. Thiscould not have been done without Ichizaemon Morimura, a major investor in this new corporationwho made an earnest endeavor toestablish Japan as a trading nation and providedthe members of Suiryoku Gumi with support, both moral and mental.

identifier:彦根論叢, 第384号, pp. 44-59

identifier:The Hikone Ronso, No.384, pp. 44-59