The Business Activities of Mitsui&Co.'s London Branch, 1879-1896

Makoto KASUYA

doi:10.5029/jrbh1984.17.67

Makoto KASUYA

Author information

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2001 Volume 17 Pages 67-87

DOI https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh1984.17.67

Details

Published: March 15, 2001 Received: - Available on J-STAGE: June 28, 2010 Accepted: - Advance online publication: - Revised: -
Correction information
Date of correction: June 28, 2010 Reason for correction: - Correction: CITATION Details: Right : 1See,for example,Keiichiro Nakagawa,“Nihon no kogyoka katei ni okeru'soshikika sareta kigyosha katsudo'”[The“activities of organized entrepreneurs”in Japan's industrialization process],Keieishigaku[Japan Business History Review]vol.2 no.3(1967);K.Yamamura,“General Trading Companies in Japan:Their Origins and Growth,”in H.Patrick,ed.,Japanese Industrialization and Its Social Consequences(University of California Press,1976);Hidemasa Morikawa,“Sogo shosha no seiritsu to ronri”[The origin and logic of general trading companies],in Mataji Miyamoto et al.,eds.,Sogo shosha no keieishi[The business history of general trading companies](Toyo Keizai Shinposha,1979);Hiroaki Yamazaki,“Nihon shosha shi no ronri”[The logic of the history of Japan's trading companies],Shakaikagaku kenkyu[The Journal of Social Science](University of Tokyo) vol.39 no.4(1987);Shin'ichi Yonekawa and Hideki Yoshihara,eds.,Business
2See Yoshio Togai,Mitsui Bussan Kaisha no keieishiteki kenkyu-“moto”Mitsui Bussan Kaisha no teichaku,hatten,kaisan[A business historical study of Mitsui&Co.:The establishment,growth,and dissolution of“the former”Mitsui&Co.](Toyo Keizai Shinposha,1974);Kohon Mitsui Bussan Kabushiki Kaisha hyakunen shi[Centennial history of Mitsui&Co.],vol.1(Japan Business History Institute,1978);Mitsui Bunko[Mitsui Research Institute for Social and Economic History-hereafter,MRISEH],ed.,Mitsui jigyo shi[The history of Mitsui's business],honpen vol.2 (1980,written by Hiroshi Iwasaki).
3See Kunio Suzuki,“Mikomi shobai ni tsuite no oboegaki-1890 nendai kohan.1910nendai no Mitsui Bussan”[Memorandum concerning own account trading:Mitsui&Co.from the second half of the1890s through the1910s],Mitsui Bunko ronso[The Journal of Mitsui Research Institute for Social and Economic History]no.15(1981).
4A book on the activities of Mitsubishi Corporation's London branch has been published;see Pernille Rudlin,The History of Mitsubishi Corporation in London:1915to the Present Day(Routledge,2000).Mitsubishi carried on almost no business at all in London in the nineteenth century.
5J.H.Dunning and E.V.Morgan,An Economic Study of the City of London(George Allen&Unwin,1971),p.34.
6J.Ahvenaien,“Telegraphs,Trade and Policy:The Role of the International Telegraphs in the Years1870-1914,”in R.C.Michie,ed.,The Industrial Revolution11:Commercial and Financial Services(Blackwell,1994),p.279.
7Mitsuhiko Takumi,Kokusai tsuka taisei-pondo taisei no tenkai to hokai[International currency systems:The evolution and collapse of the pound sterling](University of Tokyo Press,1976),chap.1.Clearing banks would also become more actively involved in accepting bills of exchange,etc.
8D.H.Aldcroft,Studies in British Transport History1870-1970(David&Charles,1974),p.56.
9For more on the Baltic Exchange,see H.Barty-King,The Baltic Exchange:The History of a Unique Market(Hutchinson Benham,1977).
10R.C.Michie,The City of London:Continuity and Change,1850-1990(Macmillan,1992),p.40.
11H.Cockrell,Lloyd's of London:A Portrait(Dow Jones-Irwin,1984),pp.1-29.
12C.Wright and C.E.Fayle,A History of Lloyd's:From the Founding of Lloyd's Coffee House to the Present Day(Macmillan,1928),p.429.
13Michie,The City of London,p.151.
14Nobuhiro Hiyoshi,Hoken buroka[Insurance brokers],rev.ed.(Hoken Mainichi Shinbunsha,1995),p.17;E.Green,“Very Private Enterprise:Ownership and Finance in British Shipping,1825-1940,”in T.Yui and K.Nakagawa,eds.,Business History of Shipping(University of Tokyo Press,1985),p.229.
15Mitsui jigyoshi[The history of Mitsui business],vol.2,pp.284-86;Tomoko Higuchi,“Shiryo shokai-Mitsui Yonosuke(Takaaki)London raijo:kaidai”[Source materials:Letters of Yonosuke(Takaaki)Mitsui received from London,explanatory notes],Mitsui Bunko ronso no.19(1985).
16MRISEH,Archive Bussan293.
17MRISEH,Archive Bussan533-3.
18Ibid. Losses were also registered in wax(tallow)and antimony.
19MRISEH,Archive Bussan535-3.Note,however,that in1884Sasase's salary was raised to400pounds,retroactively to April1883.
20MRISEH,Archive Betsu2273Hei-5.
21MRISEH,Archive Betsu2630-1.
22Meiji jushichinen kamihanki tsusho ihen[1884,first half;commercial compilation].We know that the Okuragumi exported to England26,386dollars' worth of goods,including20,000dollars'worth of raw silk(theprevious year's portion),while it imported from England woven wool fabric(12,667pounds' worth),copper,iron,and brass(10,333pounds),wool(4,860pounds),indigo(4,566pounds),machinery(1,071pounds)and other items,to the tune of38,000pounds.Similarly,the Takatagumi did deals worth approximately150,000pounds,all on imports from England into Japan:implements of war(97,000pounds),iron plating(25,000pounds),tools(10,000pounds),household furniture(8,000pounds),textiles(4,900pounds),copper and brass(4,000pounds),and other items.From this we can see that Mitsui's London branch office had the largest scale of dealings,but that,if one takes out the rice,its scale of operations was not large by any means.
23See Hidemasa Kokaze,Teikoku shugi-ka no Nihon kaiun-kokusai kyoso to taigai jiritsu[Japanese marine transport under imperialism:International competition and independence of foreign domination](Yamakawa Shuppansha,1995),pp.42-44;F.E.Hyde and J.R.Harris,Blue Funnel:A History ofAlfred Hold&Company of Liverpool from1865to1914(Liverpool University Press,1957),p.41;S.Jones,“George Benjamin Dodwell:A Shipping Agent in the Far East,1872-1908,”The Journal of Transport History3rd series,vol.6,no.1(1985),p.32.A regularly scheduled vessel was allocated a principal port by the agency,and this meant it did not always require a contract to be drawn up in London.Westernstyle sailing ships were also used for shipping rice.
24MRISEH,Archive Kawamura12-10.
25Matsuo Shigeyoshi-ke monjo74-14,kept in the Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room,the National Diet Library,Tokyo.
26MRISEH,Archive Bussan668.
27MRISEH,Archive Bussan672.
28MRISEH,Archive Bussan673.
29Matsuo Shigeyoshi-ke monjo74-23,kept in the Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room,National Diet Library.
30MRISEH,Archive Bussan672.
31MRISEH,Archive Bussan667.
32MRISEH,Archive Bussan718.
33MRISEH,Archive Bussan671.
34MRISEH,Archive Bussan672.
35“Confidential memorandum to Takashi Masuda in Tokyo from Yasusaburo Ueda in Shanghai,dated31August1888,”Mitsui Bunko ronso no.7(1973),p.276.
36Seiji Sasaki,“Mitsui Bussan Gomeigaisha seitan no kaiun-shi teki igi”[The significance from a marine transport history perspective of the birth of Mitsui Bussan Gomeigaisha],Kokumin keiei zasshi[Journal of Economics and Business Administration]vol.104no.3(1961),p.52.
37MRISEH,Archive Iko421,422.
38MRISEH,Archive Toku472.
39“Confidential memorandum to Takashi Masuda in Tokyo from Yasusaburo Ueda in Shanghai,dated13September1888,”Mitsui Bunko ronso no.7,p.279.
40The first general manager,Sasase,was replaced in1885by Jiroichi Tanabe,but he returned to Japan the following year because of illness,and his place was taken by Senjiro Watanabe.
41MRISEH,Archive Bussan289.
42Mitsui&Co.,Ltd.,The Development of Anglo-Japanese Trade(Albion Publishing,ca.1930).Only the names of companies that had close dealings with Mitsui around1930are listed in this book;the names in the text above are those that were current around1930.
43MRISEH,Archive Bussan541-29,543-35,545-23,547-24,549-21,551-30,553-26,555-18.
44S.Chapman,The Rise of Merchant Banking(George Allen&Unwin,1984),pp.121,125,175;J.Wake,Kleinword Benson:The History of Two Families in Banking(Oxford Uni-versity Press,1997),pp.115-17.
45Japan Business History Institute,ed.,Tokyo Kaijo Kasai Hoken Kabushikigaisha hyakunen shi [Hundred-year history of Tokio Marine&Fire Insurance Co.,Ltd.](Tokio Marine&Fire Insurance Co.,1979),p.115.Gellatly Hankey Sewell&Co.was acting as a subagent for Tokio Marine&Fire;Mitsui's London branch was the London agent for Tokio Marine&Fire.
46Suesaburo Inagaki,ed.,“Kagami shi no shuki”to“Tai-Ei chit no hokoku oyobi ikensho”[“Memos of Mr.Kagami”and “Reports and expressions of opinion during his residence in England”](Tokio Marine&Fire Insurance Co.,1951),p.30.
47Ibid.,pp.10,282.
48In passing let it be noted that,in1902,the places at which Mitsui's Moji branch chartered or hired vessels were:Moji(28times),Shanghai(20),Hong Kong(18),London(11),Tokyo(7),Singapore(1),and Nagasaki(1)(see Hisayuki Oshima,“Mitsui Bussan no sekitan yuso-senpakubu o chushin to shite”[Mitsui's coal transport,with a focus on the ship division],Senshu shakaikagaku ronshu[Studies in Social Sciences]no.14(1994),p.25.Thus the proportion of charters in East Asia was high.At the present time it is not known what this proportion was in the1880s and1890s.
49H.Yamazaki,“The Logic of the History of Japan's Trading Companies”(see notel for full reference details),p.161.
50Judging from the commodities handled by the London branch in1883for Mitsui&Co,Takatagumi,and Okuragumi,it would seem that there was no inevitability about Mitsui's acquisition of a business relationship with Platt Bros.&Co.;the other two companies were fully capable of forming that relationship.It seems that a major factor behind Mitsui's gaining that relationship were the personal connections of two people who had strong powers of influence over Osaka Cotton Spinning Co.(which introduced the machines manufactured by Platt Bros.):Eiichi Shibusawa and the first president of Mitsui&Co.,Takashi Masuda.This suggests that Mitsui had the organizational capability to maintain and develop the relationship that it had acquired through these connections.

Corresponding author

Correction information

Register with J-STAGE for free!