The Mitsui Zaibatsu 三井財閥

History

Mitsui is one of those families which like the Rotschild and Vanderbilt in the US and Europe, invoke wealth and power. As a matter of fact, Mitsui was the largest zaibatsu by the end of World War II, controlling 273 companies.

Everything started with Takatoshi Mitsui (1622-1694). Son of a shopkeeper from Matsuzaka (Mie prefecture), Takatoshi moved to Tokyo with his brother when he was 14 to open a second shop. In 1673, he opened a kimono shop called Gofukuya (呉服屋) in Nihombashi. It still exists and has since become the famous Mitsukoshi (三越). Note that the first kanji (三) stands for Mitsui.

In 1683, Takatoshi started an exchange shop. The Edo government made use of Mitsui's services to facilitate the transfer of funds mainly from Osaka. Good relations with the Edo, then Meiji governments helped Mitsui prosper.

In modern times, Mitsui business empire relied mainly on three subsidiaries : Mitsui Banking, Mitsui Trading and Mitsui Mining.

Banking

In 1876, Mitsui founded Japan's first private bank. The Mitsui Bank merged with the Dai-Ichi Bank to form the Teikoku Bank in 1943, but restored its name to Mitui Bank in 1954. It subsequently merged with Toto bank in 1968, then Taiyo Kobe Bank in 1990 and was renamed Sakura Bank in 1992. It merged with Sumitomo bank in 2001 to form the Mitsui-Sumitomo Banking Corporation (SMBC). SMBC absorbed the Wakashio Bank in 2003.