2025 Volume 4 Issue 2 Pages 99-113
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the business conditions of Shirokiya Kimono Store from 1905 to 1908, a blank period in the company's history, based on commercial registrations in the official gazette, company directories, and articles in specialized journals for banks and insurance companies. Shirokiya Kimono Store was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1908. The cause of this was the bankruptcy of Kiryu Fabric Company, in which Shirokiya Kimono Store was a major shareholder, which had a major impact on Shirokiya Kimono Store's cash flow, and the excess inventory of goods inside Shirokiya Kimono Store. Omura Hikotaro (Gizen), the 10th head of Shirokiya Kimono Store, requested support from the Mitsuis and the Konoikes, who were related by marriage, to avoid bankruptcy, and Shirokiya Kimono Store's bankruptcy was averted thanks to a disposal scheme prepared by the Mitsui Bank. It also clarified that the other factor that brought the company to the brink of bankruptcy, the turn of its products into non-performing loans, and the circumstances and causes behind the failure of the organizational reforms that were implemented in parallel with the measures to avoid bankruptcy, were due to the activities of Takatani Takejiro, who was in charge of sales at Shirokiya Kimono Store.
