Mitsubishi History

The Early Years
Yataro Iwasaki
Mitsubishi founder and first president
Yataro Iwasaki
(1834-1885) 
STORY
   

The history of “Mitsubishi” parallels the story of modern Japan. The founder, Yataro Iwasaki was from the prefecture of Kochi on the island of Shikoku, which was the home of the powerful Tosa clan. He worked for the clan and distinguished himself in managing its Osaka trading operations. In 1870, he set up his own shipping company, Tsukumo Shokai, with three steamships chartered from the clan. This was the beginning of Mitsubishi.

The company grew rapidly while undergoing a number of name changes including Mitsukawa Shokai, Mitsubishi Shokai, Mitsubishi Jokisen Kaisha (Mitsubishi Steamship Company), Yubin Kisen Mitsubishi Kaisha (Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company).

Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company inaugurated service to China and became the first Japanese company to open an overseas route. But the political winds shifted against Mitsubishi in the early 1880s, and the government sponsored the establishment of a competitor. The ensuing competition nearly bankrupted both companies.
  

Yataro died of cancer in 1885 and his younger brother Yanosuke succeeded him as president of Mitsubishi. The feud between Mitsubishi and its competitor ended with a government-arbitrated merger the same year, which created Nippon Yusen--today's NYK Line.

While competition was escalating on the sea, Mitsubishi was diversifying ashore. The company purchased the Yoshioka copper mine in Okayama and Takashima coal mine in Nagasaki. It leased and then purchased the Nagasaki Shipbuilding Yard from the government in 1884 and later engineered Japan's first domestically produced steel steamship there.