Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: About Shibusawa EiichiShibusawa Eichi was born on March 16th, 1840, and died at the age of ninety-one on November 11th, 1931.He lived through the period known as the Meiji Restoration, and his career was full of sharp twists and turns.In his youth he was influenced by "Sonnō Jōi [尊王攘夷]" 1) and served Hitotsubashi 2) (later Tokugawa) Yoshinobu.When he was twenty-seven years old, he accompanied Yoshinobu's younger brother Akitake on a visit to several European nations, including a visit to the 1867 Paris Exposition.Through interactions with high officials and bankers, he saw that they were not afflicted by the harmful custom of "venerating officials and denigrating ordinary people [官尊民卑]" and got to experience charitable initiatives first hand.As a result of these experiences, he came to have a broad understanding of the internal workings of civilized societies.After returning to Japan, he set up a commercial association and worked to create a new economic society.Esteemed for his knowledge of European nations, he was invited to join the Meiji government and became an official in the Ministry of Finance.He performed very well as tax overseer and head of reforms in the Ministry of Popular Affairs and greatly contributed to the building of a new nation.In 1873 (6th year of the Meiji period), however, he resigned from the Ministry of Finance and became active 1) This phrase, meaning "revere the Emperor, expel the foreigners," was the slogan of a movement critical of the weak-kneed diplomacy of the shogunate.2) The Hitotsubashi were a noble family whose members were eligible to become shogun.Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu (1837-1913) became the 15th and final shogun, taking the name Tokugawa and ruling from 1866 to 1867.
Institution: Kyushu Sangyo University
Language: English
Topic: Japanese History and Culture
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4411768387