This article is from WeChat official account:Understand knowledge (ID: mingbaizhishi)< span class = "text-remarks">, author: understand knowledge er, the original title: “Why should he be replaced by Yukichi Fukuzawa, boarded Japan’s largest denomination notes? “, the title picture comes from: Visual China
The characters printed on currencies of all countries in the world are all industry pioneers with outstanding contributions, and among them, the largest denomination banknotes are the most prominent. For example, the avatar on the $100 in circulation is Benjamin Franklin, one of the “Three Great Founders of the United States” and who participated in the drafting of the “Declaration of Independence”; a new version of £50 will be released in June this year.(the largest denomination circulating in the market) uses the portrait of Alan Turing, “the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.”
For another example, the largest banknote in Japan is 10,000 yen, or about 600 yuan. Since 1984, the portrait printed on ten thousand yen is Fukuzawa Yukichi, the most important enlightenment thinker in modern Japan. The ten thousand yen has been used for more than 30 years, and the Japanese people are accustomed to calling 10,000 yen “Yukichi coupons.” However, they will change their tune soon, because Japan will release a new version of the yen in 2024, and the heads on the banknotes will be replaced.
This person who replaced Fukuzawa Yukichi is Shibusawa Eiichi, “the father of Japanese capitalism.”
The new 10,000-yen note, which is expected to be issued in 2024, has Shibusawa Eiichi on the front and Tokyo Station on the back. Image source: Sohu
Be aware that the heads on Japanese banknotes are mostly modern educators, writers, or scientists. So, why did Shibusawa Eiichi, an entrepreneur, be listed on the ten-thousand-yuan banknote?
1. Be an official and abandon an official
“Father of Japanese Capitalism” Shibusawa Eiichi Picture source: Wikipedia
Shibusawa Eiichi was born in 1840, the same year as the first Opium War. At that time, Japan was still a feudal country under the feudal vassal system, deeply influenced by Confucian culture. Like the Qing Dynasty, it paid attention to “skilled farmers, industry, and commerce”. However, the Chinese “shi” refers to scholar-officials, while the Japanese “shi” refers to samurai.
The Shibusawa family was engaged in agriculture and business, which had no place in Japan during the Shogunate era. Because of this status, the 17-year-old Shibusawa Eiichi was insulted by the lower-ranking samurai of the lord’s house. He was angry but helpless. He could only secretly make up his mind to change his humble fate.
At the time, there was only one way, which was to be an official. So, Shibusawa Eiichi stepped into officialdom.
Overview of Shibusawa Eiichi’s not-too-long journey is a blessing from heaven.
At first, with his outstanding business ability, he was reused by the future Shogun Tokugawa Kyokusho. But at that time, the nationwide calls for the overthrow of the shogunate became more and more intense, and the downfall of the shogunate was only a matter of time and bloodshed.
The Last ActGovernment General Tokugawa Celebrates Image Source: Wikipedia
At the moment when the conflict may break out at any time, Shibusawa Eiichi was sent to Europe to study and study. When he returned to Japan two years later, the shogunate was no longer there, and Japan entered the “Meiji Era”.
The Meiji government’s determination to reform requires a large number of new talents who are familiar with the West. Although Shibusawa Eiichi was a former minister, he was quickly recruited by the Meiji government and entered the Ministry of Finance, the highest financial institution, by virtue of his two-year study experience in Europe.
Compared to the political stars who appeared at the end of the sakurai, Shibusawa Eiichi is not dazzling, but he actually did a lot of real things. He participated in leading the formulation of a series of policies such as currency reform and public debt issuance, and built the cornerstone of a modern country’s economic system.
In 1873, the 33-year-old Shibusawa Eiichi became an official to the Ministry of Finance and Economics (equivalent to the Deputy Minister of Finance), and his career was flourishing. , The future is bright. However, he submitted his resignation at this time, saying that he would go to sea for business. The political arena is in an uproar.
Shibusawa’s family used to do grocery business as well. That was the cheapest occupation in Japan in the old days, so I wanted to come and suffer the samurai’s eyes. In the two years in Europe, what impressed him most was the equality between officials and businessmen in Western countries. However, after returning to Japan and personally participating in the reform for many years, the Japanese businessmen he saw were still servile.
The insults suffered by teenagers are thorns that cannot be removed in memory. With the growth of experience and vision, Shibusawa Eiichi realized that this is also a thorn that is deeply buried in the country and hinders the development of the country. He decided to do it personally, to be the one who broke the tradition of honoring the people.
And this seemingly willful abandonment of officialdom to go into business started Seuzawa Eiichi’s glorious second half of his life.
In the latter half of his life, Shibusawa Eiichi founded more than 500 companies, including the first private bank, the first insurance company, the first railway company, the first power company… so brilliant His achievements made him feel that his life before abandoning officialdom was wasted in his later years.
In 1913, Sun Yat-sen went to Japan to visit the 73-year-old Shibusawa Eiichi to ask about the direction of China’s economic development. Shibusawa urged him to give up politics and become an entrepreneur.
2. Fight Mitsubishi
Sun Yat-sen certainly did not follow Shibusawa Eiichi’s advice. After that meeting, Sun Yat-sen also led thePolitical activities such as the French movement and sweeping warlords continued to serve as the backbone of the Chinese revolution.
If the key word of Sun Yat-sen’s life is revolution, then Shibusawa Eiichi’s key word is probably the shareholding system.
The capitalist economic system he learned during his stay in Europe, especially the shareholding system, is the most important. The ownership of joint-stock enterprises is separated from the right to operate, and the enterprise can be handed over to more professional operators for management. Shibusawa Eiichi founded more than 500 companies in his lifetime, all of which are joint-stock companies, of which Oji Paper and other companies have survived.
However, what I want to specifically mention here is the “Tokyo Sailing Club”, a company that has only existed for three years.
As an island country, Japan’s shipping industry is naturally the top priority. Shibusawa Eiichi wanted to step into this field, but encountered a very difficult enemy.
Iwasaki Yataro has great business skills. His Mitsubishi Corporation acquired the state-owned shipping company, defeated the British and American shipping company, and almost monopolized Japan’s shipping industry.
And Shibusawa Eiichi appeared and established the “Tokyo Sailing Club” to brazenly challenge the “Overlord of the Sea”. In order to compete for the market, the two companies not only fought a price war, but also competed for the speed of sailing. The Tokyo Daily News reported on this at the time:
“After the two companies set sail together from Kobe, in order to reach the destination first, the crew and captain both tied their headscarves and desperately shoveled coal into the furnace regardless of cost… When the two fire dragons are racing in general, the situation is terrible.”
The scene of the competition is thrilling.
However, this series of “sea battles” was interrupted by the death of Yataro Iwasaki. Then the two companies negotiated, each stepped back, and the two merged into the “Nippon Yusen”.
Japan in the 1870s depicted in Ukiyo-eThe maritime industry is booming. Image source: Ukiyo-e Search
This commercial war that will be talked about by posterity seems to have ended in a tie, but under the market competition between the two shipping companies, there is actually a hidden conflict between Shibusawa Eiichi and Iwasaki Yataro’s business ideas.
Different from Shibusawa Eiichi’s advocacy of the shareholding system, Iwasaki Yataro insists on a monopoly on business and capital. They are all the world’s attention business giants. Whoever wins or loses will naturally affect the institutional trends of other private enterprises.
Behind Yataro Iwasaki, the Mitsubishi Chamber of Commerce opened up its branches and became the Mitsubishi Chaebol, one of the three major chaebols in Japan. Today, although Mitsubishi no longer appears in the form of a chaebol, its brands still have active vitality, such as Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Gel Pen, which are widely circulated in the Chinese market.
In contrast, although many companies founded by Shibusawa Eiichi have survived, they are not as large as Mitsubishi.
Can it be said that the naval battle was won over a hundred years ago?
Not really. Shibusawa Eiichi and Iwasaki Yataro’s business philosophy is inherently different, and it is impossible to judge who wins and who loses from a single dimension.
Although Shibusawa Eiichi has founded more than 500 companies and involved in various industrial fields, he did not pursue the formation of a “Shibusawa chaebol”. In response, Professor Wang Xinsheng from the History Department of Peking University explained:
“Shibusawa Eiichi established a variety of companies. Some industries may not make money, or make less money, but if you don’t invest, (Japan) will be lacking in the entire industrial system. This piece. So in Shibusawa’s view, his investment is not for personal success, but more for the country, for the whole of Japan, for this society.”
Shibusawa Eiichi explained the social responsibility that an entrepreneur can carry.
3. Outside the enterprise
In fact, there is no shortage of people in China who want to save the country by industry. The most famous entrepreneur in the course of China’s modernization is Zhang Jian, the number one businessman. Although the two industrial giants of China and Japan have had friendship for many years, they have embarked on completely different destinies.
Zhang Jian also founded many companies in his life, but due to lack of capital turnover, he eventually went bankrupt. What makes people even more emotional is that Zhang Jian’s relationship with Shibusawa Eiichi was originally to raise money in Japan.
Why does Zhang Jian keep borrowing money for the same business, but Seuzawa Eiichi has sufficient funds?
The first joint-stock company founded by Eiichi Shibusawa after resignation was not an industry, but Japan’s first joint-stock bank, the First National Bank. The name “National” is actually a private operation of private capital.
The First National Bank founded by Shibusawa Eiichi Picture source: Sohu
By the way, the English vocabulary Bank is also the Chinese “Bank” translated by Shibusawa Eiichi, which was later adopted by China.
According to the principle of separation of ownership and management, Shibusawa Eiichi is not the person who invests the most, but he is the actual operator of the bank. He then used the funds raised by the bank to start a business. Owning a financial institution like a bank is a key factor for Shibusawa Eiichi to establish many businesses and maintain his success.
There are more and more joint-stock companies. Next, there must be a circulating stock market for them to collect social capital. Under the leadership of Shibusawa Eiichi, the Tokyo Stock Exchange was established in 1878. This is the Tokyo Stock Exchange today, and its market size ranks among the top five in the world.
Today’s Tokyo Stock Exchange is headquartered in Nihonbashidoucho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo. Image source: Wikipedia
From the founding of Shares BankFrom the implementation of the joint-stock enterprise model to the establishment of the stock market, Shibusawa Eiichi is not only running a company, but also creating an environment in which the company can operate in a healthy manner. He used his own practical actions to continuously advance Japan in the direction of modernization.
Shibusawa’s contribution to Japan’s modernization is hard to enumerate. “Wang Xinsheng, a well-known expert in Japanese history and a professor in the History Department of Peking University, summed up Shibusawa Eiichi’s contribution into five major areas:
(1) Introduce the western capitalist system, especially the shareholding system;
(2) Establish private financial institutions and rely on financial institutions to collect social capital;
(3) Establish enterprises in various fields to help Japan form a complete industrial system;
(4) Form an entrepreneurial group to influence political decision-making;
(5) Emphasize the ethics and social responsibility of entrepreneurs.
These contributions are enough to change Japan more than a hundred years ago, and also enough to make Shibusawa Eiichi the largest denomination of Japanese currency.
This article is from WeChat official account:Understand knowledge (ID: mingbaizhishi)< span class = "text-remarks">, author: understand knowledge er