Discussion Paper No.373

Socio-Economic Activities of Former Feudal
Lords in the Meiji Japan
Takeshi Abe, Izumi Shirai,
and Takenobu Yuki
August 2017

TOHOKU ECONOMICS RESEARCH GROUP
Discussion Paper

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND
MANAGEMENT TOHOKU UNIVERSITY
27-1 KAWAUCHI, AOBA-KU, SENDAI,
980-8576 JAPANSocio-Economic Activities of Former Feudal Lords in the Meiji Japan

Takeshi Abe a*, Izumi Shiraib,and Takenobu Yukica

Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Kokushikan University, Tokyo, Japan;

Japan Business History Institute, Tokyo, Japan; ｃGraduate School of Economics,
Tohoku University, Sendai, Japanb* abetk@kokushikan.ac.jp

Abstract
In the early phase of Japan’s industrialization after 1886, the upper class of ex-samurai,
known as daimyo with huge assets, played an important role as pioneers in equity
investments in modern industries. Furthermore, when their ex-retainers founded modern
enterprises, daimyo often invested in their businesses. In addition, daimyo often created
opportunities for the education of young people in their former fiefs. After explaining thedaimyo in the Meiji period, this article first elucidates how daimyo promoted equity
investments in modern industries. Second, this study analyses the socio-economic
activities of one of the main daimyo, Tsugaru Tsuguakira in Tsugaru region.

Keywords
Meiji Period, daimyo, kazoku, peerage, noblemen, industrialization, modern enterprise,equity investment, Tsugaru Tsuguakira, Tsugaru region, education investment, humancapitalSocio-Economic Activities of Former Feudal Lords in the Meiji Japan
Introduction
The Meiji Era (1868–1911) was the age of Japan’s so-called ‘Rich Nation, Strong Army’,in which the nation succeeded at being the first Asian country industrialized, and became
one of the military powers in the world through victories during the Sino–Japanese War(1894–1895) and the Russo–Japanese War (1904–1905).
However, Japan’s path to industrialization success, which is the topic of our interest,
was a little complicated. In about the first decade of the Meiji period, the government
made great efforts to foster modern manufacturing industries, such as cotton spinning,sugar refining, beer brewing, coal or copper mining supported by Western technology, the
new transport system by founding and managing railroads, and defence. In addition, thegovernment allowed wealthy families, such as the Mitsuis and Iwasakis (Mitsubishi), toestablish a bank and a shipping company, respectively. 1 However, except for theprosperity of the national banks, which were joint stock companies and could issue
inconvertible notes after 1876, the results of the government’s efforts were not fruitful.
In 1881–1885, the then Finance Minister, Matsukata Masayoshi (1835–1924),
rebuilt government finances, after the state had once become bankrupt because of
inflation. Matsukata newly established the Bank of Japan, which was the only bank that
could issue silver conversion notes, while the system of national banks was abolishedthereafter. Through Matsukata’s reform, fiscal policy and monetary policy, which had
been blended together, became clearly divided, and both were modernized.2
In 1886, once this reform was complete, an enterprise boom developed and many
private companies emerged, mainly in rail and cotton spinning. Japan’s industrialization
started at this time. During almost the same period, most government enterprises weresold to common people, some of whom, like the Mitsuis, Mitsubishis, Sumitomos, Fujitas,
Furukawas, Asanos, and Okuras, developed as zaibatsu. Such family businesses alsocame to promote industrialization.3
Why did the government’s industrial policies in this period fail? Why could private
enterprises but not the government realize industrialization? These questions are very
important to understand the characteristics of Japan’s industrialization.
The heritage of the Tokugawa period (1603–1868) in the Meiji Period was as follows.
(1) The newly established government was supported by excellent bureaucrats, whom theTokugawa regime had nourished. For example, Enomoto Takeaki (1836–1908), a famous
admiral of the Tokugawa navy who had resisted the new Meiji government at Hakodate
in Hokkaido until 1869, negotiated with Russia as the ambassador extraordinary and1plenipotentiary of the government in 1874, and concluded the Treaty of Saint Petersburg
in the following year. (2) The strong development of private financial businesses in the
Tokugawa period helped the smooth introduction of the modern banking system. 4 (3)Commerce and industry developed significantly in the rural areas, where the market
economy penetrated even better than in urban areas.5 (4) The number of wealthy families
increased, and entrepreneurs appeared from the stratum as time passed.6 Finally, (5) the
average level of literacy of the Japanese population was very high during the Tokugawa
period.7
We return to the abovementioned questions. We can guess that, before the reliabilityof the economic policies of the Meiji government were established by Matsukata throughthe modernization of the fiscal and monetary system, private entrepreneurs, who alreadyexisted in the early Meiji period, showed negative attitudes toward investment in
unknown modern businesses, especially joint stock companies, in which theycollaborated with unspecified large numbers of shareholders. This was despite thegovernment’s strong recommendation of such companies. Incidentally, investment innational banks was an exception, because high returns were apparently expected fromsuch investment.
In such circumstances, the upper class of ex-samurai, the daimyo, most of whomcame to own huge assets in the 1870s, played the important role of pioneering equity
investments in modern industries, guided by the leadership of key individuals, such as
Iwakura Tomomi (1825–1883), the political leader of kugyo (traditional noblemen), andShibusawa Ei’ichi (1840–1931), the founder of many modern business enterprises andeconomic organizations, as we explain in Section 2.1..
Furthermore, although daimyo, started to live in Tokyo after the establishment ofprefectures by government order in 1871 instead of han, the feudal domain in whichdaimyo had been administered, most of them kept in touch with the local people in their
old han, both socially and economically. When their ex-retainers founded banks and/or
cotton spinning enterprises, daimyo often invested in these businesses. Apparently,
daimyo were one of the pillars of Japan’s early industrialization. In addition, daimyo often
created opportunities for the education of young people in their former fiefs, providingthem with funds for higher education, and making great efforts to foster human capital.
Such activities indirectly contributed to Japan’s industrialization.
This study first elucidates how daimyo promoted equity investments in modern
industries, mainly in enterprise booms in the mid- and late-Meiji period. Second, thisstudy analyses the socio-economic activities of one of the main daimyo, Tsugaru
Tsuguakira, whose former han was located in Tsugaru region in modern-day Aomori2prefecture. We first explain the daimyo in the Meiji period in the next section before
proceeding to answer the abovementioned two research questions.
Characteristics of Daimyo Class in Meiji Period
Transformation of Daimyo during the Meiji Restoration8
In the Tokugawa period, kugyo and even the Japanese Emperor (Tenno ) were kept awayfrom power, and lived rather poorly and quietly, while the samurai class, whose status
was formally much lower than that of the kugyo, continued to rule Japan politically. The
upper class of samurai, which was consigned wide land of more than 10,000 koku9 by
the Tokugawa regime were called daimyo, and they numbered about 300. However,daimyo never owned these vast fiefs themselves. The power of the daimyo was confinedby the Tokugawa regime, which often obliged daimyo to move to another han.
This situation changed drastically in the Meiji Restoration around 1868, when the
Tokugawa regime collapsed and the samurai class started declining. On the other hand,the newly established Meiji government let the emperor be the supreme authority insteadof the Tokugawa shogun, and, therefore, the social status of kugyo rose remarkably.
In July 1869, hanseki hokan, the return of the land and people from daimyo to theemperor, was implemented. A daimyo was newly nominated as a governor of his old han,where he used to be a kind of administrator, and was guaranteed not only 10 percent of
the annual tax revenue in the han as karoku (salary for the family) but also shotenroku(an additional salary, which was newly set up as reward for the civil war of 1868–1869).
Most daimyo were saved by these new salaries, and on the whole, came to possess greater
wealth than before. 10 Meanwhile, the ordinary ex-samurai in han, namely, the exretainers of the daimyo, often had drastic cuts to their karoku, and became poorer during
the turmoil of the Meiji Restoration. The main daimyo during the Hanseki Hokan are
shown in Table 1.
[Table 1 near hear]
Simultaneously, in the same July 1869 a new peerage class, kazoku, was created by
the Meiji government, which comprised not only kugyo but also the daimyo as membersof kazoku. This class existed until 1947. On the other hand, ordinary samurai wereincorporated into the newly established shizoku (ex-samurai) class.
After, haihan chiken, the establishment of prefectures in place of han in August 1871,
the Meiji government inherited not only land but also people and debt from every han.
The salaries of the ex-samurai were also inherited by the new government, which3

proceeded to cut them drastically. Nevertheless, the payment of their salaries came todrain the government budget. For example, in around 1876, the salaries amounted to 36
percent of the general account budget, leading the government to intend to further reducethese payments for the ex-samurai. In November 1873, the government established a tax
on karoku, and in the following month, the government promulgated rules on retaining
the right to receive a salary. By this ordinance, an applicant could obtain 6 years’ salary
if he originally had a hereditary salary, or 4 years’ salary if he originally had a lifetime
salary. In both cases, half the salary was paid in cash, while the rest was paid bygovernment bond, chitsuroku kosai, with an interest rate of 8 percent. This formal policy
was intended to allow the ex-samurai class to move into agriculture, industry, andcommerce. In 1871, daimyo finally lost their ruling power over land from the abolishmentof han. Thereafter, some daimyo individually invested in land in the former han as modern
real estate. Nevertheless, not all the peers had land, and European-type peers with vastland were rather rare in modern Japan.
Even after 1873, when the land tax reform (chiso kaisei ) started, rice was handed tothe ex-samurai as payment in kind. However, in 1875, cash salary (kinroku ) at an annual
average price of karoku for 3 years became the new method for paying wages. In 1876,
the government promulgated the kinroku kosai shosho hakko jorei, which stipulated thatpayment of cash salaries to the ex-samurai class would be abolished (chitsuroku shobun),and huge government bonds would be issued instead from 1877. The funds for the bonds
were borrowed from the West. Thereafter, most ex-samurai became poorer; the lower
class received only one-third of the minimum daily wage of a construction worker inTokyo. In addition, many ex-Samurai sold their bonds; about 90 percent of the ex-samurai
in Tottori prefecture had sold their bonds by 1882. Although the government promoted
jobs for ex-samurai, such as soldiers for the defence and development of Hokkaido, it wasvery difficult to force ex-Samurai to do so, and they often rioted against the Meiji
government. For example, there were riots in 1874 at Saga; in 1876 at Kumamoto,
Akizuki in Fukuoka prefecture, and Hagi in Yamaguchi prefecture; and in 1977 in wide
areas in Kyushu (Seinan senso ) around Kagoshima prefecture. On the contrary, many
former feudal lords obtained huge amounts of bonds, which they could not freely sell.
Influence of New Peerage on Daimyo
Daimyo as well as kugyo became the members of kazoku, the new peerage established in
1869. How did this reform influence the daimyo? To understand it, we explain theimperial statement about kazoku in November 1871 and the newly promulgated kazokurei in 1884.

4

The imperial statement in 1871 gave a great deal of public attention to kazoku, which
the emperor expected to serve as a model for Japanese people. According to the statement,
kazoku should learn with diligence in order to allow the nation to develop, and should
also study abroad. Moreover, the emperor recommended that women in kazoku families
go abroad with their husbands or brothers, so as to learn the methods of childcare inforeign countries.11 In summary, kazoku were expected to form an intellectual or welleducated social class in modernizing Japan by the political leaders of the early Meiji
period, who used the young 19-year-old emperor to achieve their ends. Incidentally,
Tsugaru Tsuguakira, whose social activities we scrutinize in Section 3, started to learn
English in earnest from January 1872, just after the release of the imperial statement.12
What occupations did kazoku aim to fill? In general, male kazoku and their sonshoped to become, for example, statesmen, commissioned military officers, and diplomats.
On the other hand, their daughters desired to become good wives and wise mothers. It
was good for their daughters to get married to a nice man of kazoku standing, to give birth,and to care for their children. Children of kazoku were guaranteed the right to education
at Gakushuin, established in 1877 as a school for kazoku by the Imperial Household andkazoku. The Gakushuin had a kindergarten as well as elementary and middle schools. For
male students, the importance of military and physical education was emphasized. 13
From these facts, we find that male kazoku were required to play important roles in thefield of military and politics, but not business.
In 1884, an ordinance on peers, kazoku-rei, was promulgated by the Ministry of theImperial Household, thereby establishing a new peerage system by which all Japanese
noblemen were classified into five ranks with the following titles: prince (koshaku),
marquis (koshaku),14 count (hakushaku), viscount (shishaku), and baron (danshaku). The
new peers (shin-kazoku ) were created in addition to the traditional old peers (kyu kazoku,
consisting of kugyo and daimyo). The new peers included the following two groups: first,
famous priests of Buddhism and Shinto, and second, various private citizens who had
achieved prominence after the Meiji Restoration in various fields, such as politics, public
administration, business, and academic research. The new peers, who were not born
noblemen, included such businessmen as Iwasaki Hisaya and Iwasaki Yanosuke, thefounders of the Mitsubishi zaibatsu (both were ennobled in 1896), Shibusawa Eiichi, agreat organizer of Japanese businesses, as mentioned in Introduction (1900), Konoike
Zen’emon, a famous financier in Osaka since the Tokugawa period (1911), Kondo Renpei,
President of Nippon Yusen Kaisha in the Mitsubishi zaibatsu (1911), Sumitomo
Kichizaemon of the Sumitomo zaibatsu (1911), Fujita Denzaburo of the Fujita zaibatsu(1911), and Mitsui Hachirojiro of the Mitsui zaibatsu (1911), most of whom were known5

as the heads of their zaibatsu families, and were nominated as barons after the Sino–
Japanese War.15
The government’ political purpose after the political crisis in October 1881
apparently became to establish a Prussian-style ‘Strong Army and Rich Nation’ ruled by
the grand emperor, Meiji Tenno, against the Free Civil Right Movement that had been
active since 1874, and the reorganized peer class was expected to help enforce this goal
and to protect Tenno and his family. After the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution in
February 1889, the House of Commons and the House of Peers were founded. While the30year-old princes and marquises automatically became members of the House of Peers,
the rest representatives of three lower classes of kazoku in the same house were electedby mutual vote. It is important that kazoku were deemed the protectors of the royal family(koshitsu no hanpei ), and were obliged to strictly restrain from speculative activities.16
Kazoku-rei was revised in 1907, and promulgated by the Imperial Household itself.
The new ordinance stated the regulations to kazoku’s social behaviour. In particular, the
new kazoku-rei stated that those who could not retain their dignity would no longer betreated as kazoku, and their behaviour was monitored by the Ministry of the Imperial
Household.17
In this way, it became difficult for kazoku, including the daimyo, to play active rolesat the forefront of business, as time went on. However, as we see in Section 2.1., at leastin the late 19th century, the former feudal lords contributed significantly to socioeconomic development as investors in the early stage of Japan’s industrialization, andfostered human capital in their old han.
Equity Investments by Daimyo Class
Significance of Equity Investment by Daimyo
In this subsection, we consider how equity investment by the daimyo influenced theemergence of modern enterprises at the beginning of Japan’s industrialization.
According to previous research,18 kazoku, including the daimyo, held passive equity
investment, resulting from activities as rentiers, while merchants invested actively inequities and contributed to the establishment of companies and their management.
However, such a view seems to have some problems.
First, there were less than 300 daimyo, and they have been thought of as the richest
privilege class in the Meiji period. However, even before industrialization, some daimyo
had invested actively in the equities of famous companies, such as the Fifteenth National
Bank (established in 1877), Japan Railway Company (1881) in response to Tomomi
Iwakura’s order,19 and Tokio Marine Assurance Company (1879) and Osaka Spinning

6

Company (1882) in response to the recommendation of Shibusawa Eiichi.20 The totalsum of the equity investments of the daimyo was huge, and played a very important rolein fund-raising for Japan’s newly emerging companies after 1886.21 Although such roles
tended to decrease in the development of Japan’s economy, as before, the daimyo has
continued to invest in many companies in various industries.
Case studies of the investments of individual daimyo have not been provided
sufficiently in the previous research. However, some recent historians have started toprovide such case studies. For example, the Kikkawa family of Iwakuni han, located inpresent-day Yamaguchi prefecture, established a family constitution that systematized therules of the family, and showed how to administer and maintain its property. The family
diversified its investments; the family classified its assets into movable property and realestate, and invested not only in banks and railways, as many researchers have mentioned,
but also in manufacturing.22
Finally, although the business activities of the daimyo were formally those of an heirof a house, the real administration was usually conducted by their stewards, called kafu
or karei, most of whom were the top leaders of former retainers. A good example is the
Tachibana family in Yanagawa region in present-day Fukuoka prefecture, whose stewards
actually made investment decisions, even after the establishment of the family
constitution.23
As mentioned earlier section, Kazoku, including the daimyo, were constrained fromconducting such speculative and dangerous business activities that disgraced their familynames by kazoku-rei, and were expected to maintain their dignity. Some kazoku, who
could not bear to maintain such a heavy role, returned their noble titles,24 while others
who could make better investment decisions survived persistently until 1947, when thepeerage system collapsed by the new National Constitution.25 As mentioned section, thebusiness activities of kazoku strongly influenced the founding of companies and their
management in Meiji era.
Position of Daimyo in Equity Investment
What were the investment activities of daimyo? Tables 2 and 3 rank the top 100
shareholders in 1897 and 1907.
[Table 2 and Table 3 near here]
In 1897, the listed 331 firms had 1,956 shareholders in total and 2,224,115 shares.
The top 100 largest shareholders owned 1,534,174 shares, or 68.9 percent of all shares.

7

Toshitsugu Maeda, Tadayoshi Shimazu, and Nagakoto Asano, who were famous
noblemen, ranked sixth, eighth, and ninth as top shareholders, respectively. Within the
top 50, there were 11 peers, and within the top 100, there were 26 noblemen. The peers
owned 253,746 shares, or 11 percent of all shares. Thus, they played an extremely
important role in the development of the financial aspects of firms in the late 19th century.
An important characteristic is that Sinobu Tajima, Steward of the Mori family, Kaneaki
Hayakawa, Steward of the Shimazu family, Nagamasa Tanaka, Steward of the Nabeshima
family, and Nagatoshi Inai, Steward of the Hachisuka family, were also major
shareholders.
In 1907, the numbers of the firms and shareholders were 1,374 and 4,051, respectively.
The total number of shares was 4,839,065. The top 100 largest shareholders owned
2,628,663 shares, or 54.3 percent of all shares. However, no daimyo was included in the
top 10, and even Maeda Toshinari, the top-class daimyo, ranked 25th. Only 4 and 8 of thedaimyo ranked within the top 50 and the top 100, respectively. All the peers owned
103,682 shares, or 2.1 per cent of the total shares. The ranking of the daimyo as the major
shareholders dropped significantly. Thus, their position in equity investment fell, butsome continued to be major shareholders, which suggested that a portion of the peers
increased their profits by investing in stocks in the early 20th century.
[Table 4 and Table 5 near here]
Tables 4 and 5 show the main kazoku, who undertook significant equity investment
in 1897 and 1907, respectively. They invested not only in the Fifteenth Bank and Japan
Railway Company, but also in other banks and railway companies as well as local
businesses. In the next subsection, we introduce two case studies on asset management
among the daimyo.
Two Case Studies on Asset Management of Daimyo
We select two cases: the Shimazu families, who ranked 8th, 47th, and 73rd in 1897 in
Table 2, and 57th in about 1907, and the Kikkawa Family, who ranked 92nd in Table 3.
[Table 6 near here]
Table 6 shows the revenue structure of the Shimazu family, whose percentage ofequities was 93.1 percent in 1885, and 73.4 percent in 1892. The Shimazu family
apparently obtained most of its revenue from equity investment. The family started

8

businesses by using funds earned in the 1890s.26[Table 7 near here]
Table 7 shows the revenue structure of the Kikkawa family. In the first half of the
1890s, bonds, equities, and land occupied around 25 percent of total revenue, which seemcompetitive. However, in 1895, the proportion of equities (34.1 percent) was prominent,
and it continued to increase thereafter, reaching 84.2 percent in 1909. Owing to suchexcellent asset management, the family’s income rose from 57,637 yen in 1892 to 529,998
yen in 1909. The number of stocks increased from 8 in 1892 to 24 in 1909. The family
invested not only in banks and railway companies but also in such industries as electric
power, gas, textiles, and sugar.27
Thus, equity investment was the most important source of income of the daimyo inindustrializing Japan. Some of them acted as kazoku, supported by aggressive equity
trading. At the same time, their investment activities played a major role in the economic
and business development of modern Japan, including local communities.
Business and Social Activities of Daimyo: The Case of Tsugaru Tsuguakira
Participation in Enterprises and Shareholding
Here, we discuss the business and social activities of Tsugaru Tsuguakira (1840–1916),
who ranks 17th in Table1. Throughout the Tokugawa period, the Tsugaru family governed
Hirosaki han, currently known as Tsugaru region in Aomori prefecture, located in northeast part of Japan. This family had 47,000 koku after c.1600, 70,000 koku after 1805, and100,000 koku after 1808.28 As most daimyo had only less than 50,000 koku, Hirosaki han
was proud of its relatively large scale.
Tsuguakira was born in 1840 in Edo as the fourth son of Hosokawa Moriakira, thefamous daimyo of Kumamoto han. Tsuguakira became son in law of the Tsugaru family
in 1857, assumed the twelfth lord of this family, and became the last daimyo of Hirosaki
han in 1859. In June 1869, Tsuguakira was appointed a governor at Hirosaki hanchiji by
the Meiji government. After the abolishment of han in 1871, the government ordered the
daimyo, including Tsuguakira, to resign from the hanchiji, and Tsuguakira moved toTokyo along with the other peers, and lived there for 45 years from 1871 to 1916. During
this period, he returned to his former domain only a few times.29 In July 1884, he becamea count. What did he do in Tokyo?
It is noteworthy that Tsugaru played important roles in two previously mentioned
companies: The Fifteenth Bank and the Japan Railroad Company. He became a director

9

of the bank, and the 11th-largest shareholder of the railroad company in 1896. 30 In
addition, Tsugaru invested in some other companies. Figure 1 shows their names and thelocations of their headquarters during the period December 31, 1900 to January 1902.
This figure indicates that Tsugaru intensively invested in railway companies and banks.
In particular, it is notable that he had shares in Tsugaru Tetsudo Company, which operated
in his former han, suggesting he retained a connection with people of the former domain
in terms of money, even after moving to Tokyo.
[Figure 1 near here][Table 8 near here]
Five Types of Financial Support: Strong Ties with Former Domain
Table 8 presents a list of financial support provided by Tsugaru Tsuguakira in 1893–1916,
which are written in his biography. We classify his financial support into five types, as
follows. Type 1 is help to poor people and victims of natural disasters, bad harvests, orwars in Aomori prefecture, including his former domain. As this region was located in anarea of Japan with a harsh natural environment. Tsugaru often provided such financial
help. Type 2 is support to build and maintain facilities for the people of Aomori prefecture,for example, a park at Hirosaki Castle ruins, the base of the Tsugaru family. Type 3 is
support to improve the educational environment of the people of Aomori prefecture.
Tsugaru invested in human capital, as we soon explain in detail. Type 4 is other types ofhelp for the people of Aomori prefecture. Type 5 is support unrelated to Aomori
prefecture, including donations to the Ministry of the Imperial Household for construction
costs at the Imperial palace, shrines, kado society for traditional Japanese poetry, andHakuaisha, which later became the Red Cross Society of Japan.31
As for the financial support by Tsugaru, first, all types of support except for type 5
were given to the people of Aomori prefecture, which suggests there were social ties
between Tsuguakira and his former han. Second, Jokun-kyoku, the Decoration Bureau,and so on awarded Tsuguakira medals for his contribution to help disaster victims andpoor people. This implies that caring for socially vulnerable people was considered asocially expected role of kazoku at that time. Finally, Tsugaru made a great effort tosupport education. In particular, he made a significant contribution to the foundation anddevelopment of Toogijuku Junior High School in Hirosaki, a private junior high schoolthat placed great importance on English learning.

10Investment in Human Capital
Nationalwide Trend
Among the daimyo, Tsuguakira was not the only one who made a special effort to support
education. After Japan’s opening to the world in the 1850s, its education policy changed
in reaction to the institutional reform of local government. Most han put effort intotraining people in order to make them understand Western studies. Thus, some han
established schools at which Western studies were taught, and sent people to study indeveloping areas, for example, in Tokyo and/or overseas countries. The number of suchpeople reached the thousands before the abolishment of han.32 However, with the reformfrom han to prefectures, the talent-training system that had been supported by the han
could not be maintained by the local government, and many schools of the former han
were abolished.
In such a situation, some former feudal lords and ex-samurai started to support the
local education system for young people, including the establishment of new schools andstudent scholarships.33 Thus, the daimyo became investors not only in modern industry
but also in education and human capital.
Financial Support for Young People of Aomori Prefecture
Before the abolishment of han, like other han, Hirosaki han sent people outside of thehan in order to learn mainly Western studies and built schools. The names of people who
were dispatched from Hirosaki han to study from January 1861 to July 1871, and the
purposes of their trips have been listed.34 Many people learned, in particular, militaryscience, foreign languages, and other Western studies. The aims relating to Westernstudies gradually increased and several of the students from Aomori prefecture belonged
to Keio Gijuku, a private school established by Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835–1901) in Tokyoin 1858.35 Fukuzawa set up a school for young Japanese men to learn Western studies,such as economics, the history of the US and UK, physics, and geography, using English
textbooks.36 In the records of Hirosaki han in 1872, the purpose of this domestic study
trip project was not only to learn Western studies, including military science, but also tobuild human networks.37 In addition, Hirosaki han established Eigakuryo, a school ofEnglish learning, and Kangakuryo, a school of Chinese classics for samurai in Hirosaki
in 1871. Eigakuryo invited special teachers for English education, such as Nagashima
Sadajiro and Yoshikawa Yasujiro, from Keio Gijuku and Shizuoka han.
As a consequence of the abolishment of han, this educational project was
immediately stopped. However, Tsugaru continued with his dedicated efforts in humancapital investment for the people of the former domain from the following two sides. One

11was the support for Toogijuku. Tsugaru provided not only funds for its establishment but
also to build the schoolhouse. Furthermore, thereafter he often helped the school when it
faced serious financial crises.38 The initial central members for the establishment andmanagement of the school included the abovementioned Yoshikawa, as well as Kikuchi
Kuro, an ex-samurai in Hirosaki han, who was close to Tsugaru. Prior to setting up thisschool ， Kikuchi stayed in Tokyo to learn Western studies at Keio Gijuku and in
Kagoshima to study military systems from 1869 to 1870.39 Kikuchi later stated that hedecided to establish a modern school in Hirosaki when he stayed in Kagoshima han. In
addition, Tsugaru financially supported Shuyosha, a scholarship foundation for students
from the former territory to study in Tokyo, which was established in 1900 by thescholarship organization of Aomori prefecture. The foundation managed the dormitory,
which had capacity for 50 students, and supplied them with living space, private study
rooms, a library, an assembly hall, a reception room, and an office room. The foundation
also had a backyard in which the students could exercise.40 The scholarship program was
mainly managed by ex-samurai, including Kikuchi Kuro. In addition, Iida Tatsumi, oneof the important people in the scholarship organization, was close to the Tsugaru family.
Incidentally, Tsugaru Tsuguakira refused a request to become the president of an
exhibition held by private agricultural and mercantile groups in Tsugaru region. 41 Afterthe abolishment of han in 1871, Tsugaru cared significantly about the improvement ofeducational environment for the people of Aomori prefecture, designed by his retainers.
Background and Consequences of Tsugaru’s Educational Investment
The reasons Tsugaru invested in Toogijuku are said to be as follows: first, he recognized
the importance of cultivating talented people, who were familiar with Western studies,and he tried to continue human capital development projects after the abolishment ofhan. 42 In addition, Tsugaru and Nishidate Kosei, the former steward of the Tsugaru
family, promised with Kikuchi to support the school, because Kikuchi had negotiated thegovernment officials as an agent of the Tsugaru family to solve the family’s financial
problems. At the time, Kikuchi made full use of the human connections he had built
during his domestic study trip.43
Toogijuku became an important place to connect between Japan and foreigncountries in Japan’s Westernizing Meiji period. Since the school’s foundation, most of its
curriculum, teaching method, and textbooks followed those of Keio Gijuku.44 In addition,
Kikuchi strongly hoped that Toogijuku would become a school whose students could
learn correct English pronunciation, conversation, and writing and thus, it became thefirst school in north-east Japan to invite native English teachers.45 In 1877, five students

12were sent abroad to study at Asbury University in the US, with the support of John Ing, aforeign teacher of the school. According to the alumni association list, Toogijuku students
came from not only cities and rural areas in Aomori prefecture but also other prefecturesfrom around the country. There are 2649 names of male and female on the graduate list
published in 1901, of which 175 are from other prefectures (Figure 2).46 Some of theschool’s graduates are listed in a document about the school’s history published in 1908,
and were active as government officials and local public servants (52 people, including
11 engineers, and 10 judges), educators (47 people, including 26 teachers of public juniorhigh school, 6 lecturers and professors, 4 teachers of higher normal school, and 3 teachersof agricultural school), managers and employees of commerce and industries (36 people,
including 5 directors and managers of banks, 5 of whom worked in the US)47, militaryand navy (33), medical officials (33), newspaper reporters (24), politicians (22, including
16 local politicians and 6 national politicians), Christian officials (17), lawyers (15),navigators (12), primary industry workers (5) and priests (4).48 These people worked not
only in Aomori prefecture but also throughout the country.
Tsugaru once stopped financial support to Toogijuku in 1892. It is said this wascaused by the opposition of the ex-samurai of former domain. This could mean that
Tsugaru could not sustain his power in the former territory as before. This remains as a
future task to clarify.
[Figure 2 near here]
Concluding Remarks: Daimyo Class in Economic History in the Meiji Era
During the great change of Japanese society in the Meiji Restoration, while the rulingfeudal class of samurai declined as a whole, their top members, daimyo, became richer
than in the Tokugawa period, and some of them became among the wealthiest people inJapan.
Many daimyo, who were prominently wealthy people, became the most importantsponsors of early Japanese modern companies in the 19th century after the 1880s.
However, it is also noteworthy that in the newly established Japanese peerage, kazoku,
including the daimyo, were deemed as the protectors of the royal family (koshitsu nohanpei ), and were obliged to restrain from speculative activities. Therefore, it was very
difficult for the daimyo to develop as entrepreneurs. In fact, in the process of Japan’s
industrialization, especially in and after the First World War (1914–1918), theircontribution toward supplying funds evidently decreased compared with emerging
private entrepreneurs.

13Nevertheless, the daimyo were not only the supplier of industrial funds, but also
the supporters to their ex-retainers, who hoped to become entrepreneurs, as a class of
local men of high repute. Furthermore, the daimyo fostered local human capital throughproviding educational opportunities for young people. In summary, the daimyo
indirectly helped Japan’s industrialization.

14

Table 1. Kazoku of former feudal lords in July 1869
Rank

Name of
Han

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

Kanazawa
Kumamoto
Kagoshima
Wakayama
NagoyaHiroshima
Fukuoka
Yamaguchi
Saga
Shizuoka
Tokushima
Kochi
Tottori
Okayama
KubotaMatsueHirosakiTsu
KurumeFukui
Matsuyama
Takamatsu
HikoneKawaraHimeji
Shibata
OizumiMorioka
Sendai
Yanagawa(

Contemporary Prefecture andArea)

Family NameFirst Name

(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(

Ishikawa in Hokuriku
Kumamoto in Kyushu
Kagoshima in Kushu
Wakayama in Eastern Kinki
Aichi in Tokai
Hiroshima in Chugoku
Fukuoka in Kyushu
Yamaguchi in Chugoku
Saga in Kyushu
Shizuoka in Tokai
Tokushima in Shikoku
Kochi in Shikoku
Tottori in Chugoku
Okayama in Chugoku
Akita in Tohoku
Shimane in Chugoku
Aomori in Tohoku
Mie in Tokai
Fukuoka in Kyushu
Fukui in Hokuriku
Ehime in Shikoku
Kagawa in Shikoku
Shiga in Eastern Kinki
Fukuoka in Kyushu
Hyogo in Western Kinki
Akita in Tohoku
Yamagata in Tohoku
Iwate in Tohoku
Miyagi in Tohoku
Fukuoka in Kyushu

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

Maeda
Hosokawa
Shimazu
Tokugawa
Tokugawa
Asano
KurodaMori
Nabeshima
Tokugawa
Hachisuka
Yamauchi
Ikeda
Ikeda
SatakeMatsudaira
Tsugaru
Todo
Arima
Matsudaira
Hisamatsu
Matsudaira
Ii
Ogasawara
Sakai
Mizoguchi
Sakai
Nanbu
Date
TachibanaTop 30Top 50284 Families

Yoshiyasu
Yoshikuni
Tadayoshi
Shigetsugu
Tokunari
Nagakoto
Nagatomo
Hiroatsu
NaohiroIesatoMochiakiToyonori
Yoshinori
Akimasa
Yoshitaka
SadaakiTsuguakira
Takayuki
Yorishige
MochiakiKatsushige
Yoritoshi
NaonoriTadanobu
Tadakuni
Naomasa
Tadamistu
Toshiyasu
Munemoto
Akitomo
Subtotal
Subtotal
Total

AnnualSalary,karoku(koku)
63,68832,96831,40027,45926,907
25,83723,42523,276
21,372
21,021
19,317
19,301
18,643
17,958
17,94014,534
14,134
12,427
11,819
11,101
11,074
10,576
9,403
8,817
8,321
7,092
6,937
6,858
6,774
6,689
537,068
639,045925,132

Percentage
(%)

Noble
Titles

6.9
3.6
3.4
3.0
2.9
2.8
2.5
2.5
2.3
2.3
2.1
2.1
2.0
1.9
1.9
1.6
1.5
1.3
1.3
1.2
1.2
1.1
1.0
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
58.1
69.1
100.0

MarquisMarquisPrinceMarquisMarquisMarquisMarquisPrinceMarquisPrinceMarquisMarquisMarquisMarquisMarquis
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count
Count

Source: Kasumi Kaikan Shoke Shiryo Chosa Iinkai, Kazoku Seido Shiryo-shu, 4–26.
Note: The boldface typed names are found in this paper.

15

Table 2. Ranking of major shareholders in 1897
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

Shareholder
The Fifteen Bank
Kuranokami
Iwasaki Hisaya
Mitsui Bank
Yasuda Bank
Maeda Toshitsugu
Shibusawa Eiichi
Shimazu Tadayoshi
Asano Nagakoto
Goryokyoku
Tokugawa Mochitsugu
Hara Rokuro
Nabeshima Naohiro
Watanabe Jiemon
Hara Zenzaburo
Asano SoichiroMori Motoakira
Amemiya Keijiro
Tokugawa Yoshiakira
Nomoto Teijiro
Abe Hikotaro
Tanaka Heihachi
Hachisuka Mochiaki
Yamamoto Hidetoshi
Ichimura Soube
Mogi Bank
Hiranuma Senzo
Murakami Tasaburo
Yokohama BankJapan Railway Company
Yasuda Zenjiro
Adachi Bank
Watanabe Fukusaburo
Hosokawa Morishige
Kato Tokuzo
Tanaka Bank
Morimura Ichizaemon
Teikoku Marine Insurance Company
Iwata Sakube
Tanaka Shinshichi
Wakao Ikuzo
Amemiya Shinichiro
Date Munenobu
Nezu Kazuhide
Momiyama Hanzaburo
Ueba Katsue
Shimazu Tadanari
Kawasaki Hachiemon
Osaka Savings Bank
Saionji Kiminari

StatusBank
Imperial court
Businessman
Bank
Bank
MarquisBusinessman
PrinceMarquisImperial court
MarquisBusinessman
MarquisBusinessman
Businessman
Businessman
PrinceBusinessman
MarquisBusinessman
Businessman
Businessman
MarquisBusinessman
Businessman
Bank
Businessman
Businessman
Bank
Company
Businessman
Bank
Businessman
MarquisBusinessman
Bank
Businessman
Insurance Company
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
MarquisBusinessman
Businessman
Businessman
PrinceBusinessman
Bank
Businessman

Number of shares
310,381203,070
125,257
103,126
51,48943,12728,78027,371
25,44723,492
20,424
19,304
19,232
17,561
17,221
16,983
16,76815,21415,024
14,802
13,245
12,681
12,66011,16010,524
9,575
9,440
9,185
8,800
8,653
8,608
8,241
8,158
7,872
7,480
7,221
7,172
7,000
6,502
6,373
6,263
6,180
5,976
5,812
5,564
5,460
5,443
5,305
5,250
5,204

Number of issues
4
6
10
12
9
9
16
3
3
2
2
12
6
14
9
9
6
6
2
5
7
9
6
1
2
6
8
7
4
1
8
3
7
2
10
1
6
2
4
3
6
1
2
1
7
1
3
6
1
4

Rank
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100

Shareholder
Ikegami Nakasaburo
Kitamura Eiichiro
Hibiya Heizaemon
Mogi Soube
Iwakura Tomosada
Hisamatsu Sadakoto
Yamauchi Toyokage
Horikoshi Kakujiro
Wakao Ippei
Oyamada Shinzo
Kihara Chube
Baba Michihisa
Tajima Shinobu
Ii Naonori
Tamura Hanjuro
Tokyo prefecture
Ookawa Heizaburo
Fujita Gumi
Ono Kinroku
Komuro Shinobu
Matsudaira Yoritoshi
Yamawaki Zensuke
Hayakawa Kaneaki
Minoda Chozaburo
Hiratsuka Kihe
Ishizaki Seizo
Meiji Fire Insurance Company
Ino Kumekichi
Sumitomo Kichizaemon
Takeda Chusaku
Nanjo Shinrokuro
Watanabe Hiromoto
Ootani Kahe
Ikeda Akimasa
Souma Aritane
Tsugaru Tsuguakira
Tokugawa Iesato
Matsura Akira
Yamazaki Ryutoku
Watanabe Ryukichi
Tanaka Nagamasa
Kikkawa Tsunetake
Kawada Ryokichi
Satsuma Jihe
Tokuda Kohe
Matsui Zenhachi
Inai Nagatoshi
Masuda Takashi
Kimura Riemon
Hiranuma Kyusaburo

StatusBusinessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
PrinceCount
MarquisBusinessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Steward of MoriCount
Businessman
Local government
Businessman
Zaibatsu
Businessman
Businessman
Count
Businessman
Steward of Shimazu
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Insurance Company
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
MarquisViscount
Count
PrinceCount
Businessman
Businessman
Steward of Nabeshima
Viscount
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Steward of Hachisuka
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman

Number of shares
5,051
5,014
5,012
5,003
5,000
5,000
4,828
4,736
4,721
4,529
4,500
4,365
4,246
4,134
4,078
4,000
3,961
3,950
3,881
3,800
3,754
3,750
3,700
3,479
3,413
3,383
3,336
3,327
3,277
3,160
3,118
3,100
3,039
3,000
3,000
3,000
3,000
3,000
3,000
3,000
2,968
2,936
2,904
2,900
2,865
2,865
2,836
2,761
2,708
2,706

Number of issues
5
5
5
6
1
1
2
2
3
3
2
3
4
2
4
1
2
2
9
3
2
1
1
3
1
5
1
4
2
2
4
4
6
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
2
1
4
8
4
3

Source: Sawai, “Shiryo: Meiji-ki no Okabunushi,” 256–258.
Note: Number total firms 331, number of total shareholders 1,956, and number of total shares 2,224,115.

16

Table 3. Ranking of major shareholders in 1907
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

Shareholder
Ministry of Finance
Kuranokami
Mitsui Bank
Osaka Steamship Company
Okura Kihachiro
NYK Line Japan
Suzuki Tozaburo
Watanabe Jiemon
Asano Soichiro
Mitsui Family
Amemiya Keijiro
Wakao Ippei
Yamaguchi Tatsutaro
Shibusawa Eiichi
Iwasaki Hisaya
Yasuda Zenjiro
Murai Kichibe
Teikoku Life Insurance Company
Wakao Tamizo
Kuryu Buemon
Hibiya Heizaemon
Wakao Bank
Nezu Kaichiro
Ueda Rokurobe
Maeda Toshinari
Watanabe Fukusaburo
Ohashi Shintaro
Family Company of Mitsubishi
Hoden Oil Company
Baba Michihisa
Ono Kinroku
Hara Rokuro
Teikoku Maritime Transport Fire Insurance Company
Nishiwaki Saisaburo
General Electric Company
Abe Yukibe
Mogi Bank
Yasuda Zenzaburo
Date Munenobu
Suzuki Keizo
Tajima Shinobu
Yasuda Bank
Niigata prefecture
Shizuoka prefecture
Nagano prefecture
Go Seinosuke
Oda Sataro
Satake Sakutaro
Minomura Yasutaro
Matsudaira Yorinaga

StatusGovernment
Imperial court
Bank
Company
Businessman
Company
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Zaibatsu
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Insurance Company
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Bank
Businessman
Businessman
MarquisBusinessman
Businessman
Zaibatsu
Company
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Insurance Company
Businessman
Company
Businessman
Bank
Businessman
MarquisBusinessman
Steward of MoriBank
Local government
Local government
Local government
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Count

Number of shares
520,000
232,384
107,489
75,43074,03470,18965,09357,14951,29150,15848,46948,24943,88036,93030,99730,80230,14029,84828,89424,98824,841
23,571
22,32220,00019,915
19,467
19,181
19,10019,00018,62018,237
18,031
18,00017,664
16,17015,834
15,651
15,60015,49915,352
15,313
15,26515,00015,00015,00014,58013,90913,80013,117
12,985

Number of issues
2
8
4
1
13
1
2
8
9
1
7
2
6
19
6
12
6
2
7
4
3
4
6
1
3
9
9
2
1
9
4
6
4
4
1
2
5
5
4
3
4
3
1
1
1
2
1
2
5
2

Rank
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100

Shareholder
Toshimitsu Tsurumatsu
Wakao Ikuzo
Tokugawa Yoshiakira
Hara Zenichiro
Morimura Ichizaemon
Sugimura Jinbe
Shimazu Tadashige
Chiba prefecture
Masuda Masuzo
Phimerus Mining Company
Friedrich Adolphkoenig
Furukawa Toranosuke
Uchino Goroza
Horikoshi Kakujiro
Tanaka Store
Ibaraki prefecture
Fujita Kotaro
Tokyo Fire Maritime Transport Insurance Company
The Fifteen Bank
Kamiya Denbe
Ito Denshichi
Maekawa Tahe
Aichi prefecture
Yokohama Fire Maritime Insurance Company
Baku Shoho
Nakazawa Hikokichi
Matsumoto Tatsuo
Fujimoto Seibe
Yamazaki Unosuke
Tanaka Shinshichi
Mitsui Yonosuke
Asano Nagakoto
Gunma prefecture
Fukushima Namizo
Nabeshima Naohiro
Asada Matashichi
Yamagata Yuzaburo
Saga Shotaro
Fukukawa Chuhe
Minoda Chozaburo
Honda Hiroshi
Shiba Yoshikane
Ono Seikei
Ono Tokusaburo
Tomikura Rinzo
Masuda Takashi
Shirai Enpei
Otani Kahei
Kawasaki Bank
Yamamoto Tatsuo

StatusBusinessman
Businessman
MarquisBusinessman
Businessman
Businessman
PrinceLocal government
Businessman
Company
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Company
Local government
Businessman
Insurance Company
Bank
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Local government
Insurance Company
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
MarquisLocal government
Businessman
MarquisBusinessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Businessman
Bank
Politician

Number of shares
12,813
12,745
12,575
12,567
12,21812,00011,624
11,480
11,25011,00011,00010,50010,500
10,24810,022
10,00010,000
9,800
9,600
9,511
9,178
9,000
8,770
8,740
8,660
8,552
8,466
8,326
8,150
8,082
8,000
8,000
7,954
7,829
7,771
7,757
7,621
7,500
7,496
7,411
7,406
7,300
7,255
7,164
7,135
7,106
7,104
7,038
7,001
7,000

Number of issues
1
5
4
3
3
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
3
3
1
1
1
3
2
2
1
3
1
2
1
7
1
3
4
2
2
2
1
3
3
5
4
2
1
3
4
1
6
2
1
5
3
5
3
1

Source: Sawai, “Shiryo: Meiji-ki no Okabunushi,” 256–258.
Note: Number total firms 1,374, number of total shareholders 4,051, and number of total shares 4,839,065.

17

Table 4. Noblemen’s Holding Structure (more than 5,000 shares owned, 1897)
Rank

Name

6

Maeda
Toshitsugu

StatusMarquis# ofshares43,127# ofissues9

Shimazu
Tadayoshi
Asano
Nagakoto
Tokugawa
Mochitugu

Prince27,3713Marquis25,4473

Marquis20,4242

13

Nabeshima
NaohiroMarquis19,2326

17

MoriMotoakiraPrince19

Tokugawa
Yoshiakira

Marquis23

Hachisuka
Mochiaki

8
911Marquis

16,76815,024

12,660

6
2

6

Firm

# of
sharesFirm

Japan Railway
Company

17,978

Meiji Commercial
Bank

Composition of the issues
# of
Firm
sharesThe 15th
10,0005,000
BankNanao Bank

2,000

Ganetsu Railway

1,000Bank of Japan

1,000

13,947The 15th Bank

8,000

The 5th Bank

5,424

17,947The 15th Bank

4,500

Teiyu Bank

3,000

15,424

The 15th Bank

5,000

10,230

NYK Line Japan2,500

The 30th
Bank

2,000

The 1st Bank

Hokkaido Coal
Train Company

4,500

Tokio Marine
Insurance

3,600

10,626The 15th Bank

4,398

5,500

The 89th Bank

5,121

Japan
Refractories
Company

845

4,572

Higo Bank

3,300
1,444
1,050

The 147th
Bank

221

Japan Railway
Company
Japan Railway
Company
Japan Railway
Company
Japan Railway
Company
The 2th Bank

4,951

Kuratani Mining
Japan Railway
Company

817

Tokyo Hat Company
34
43
47
55
56

Hosokawa
Morishige
Date
Munenobu
Shimazu
Tadanari
IwakuraTomosada
Hisamatsu
Sadakoto

Marquis7,872

2

The 15th Bank

Marquis5,976

2

The 20th Bank

4,532

Prince5,443

3

The 5th Bank

4,172

Bank of Japan

Prince5,000

1

The 15th Bank

5,000

1

Kobu Railway
Company

5,000

5,000

Firm

# of
shares

3,584

NYK Line Japan

2,065

2,000

Bank of Japan

1,500

Sobu Railway
Company

1,500

The YokohamaSpecie Bank

1,400

Tokyo ElectricPower Company

604Tokyo Chemical
Fertilizer
Company

400

Tokio Marine
Insurance
Kinjo Saving
Bank

500

190

Kobu Railway
Company

Count

# of
shares

Firm

1,002

The 15th Bank

Tokio Marine
Insurance# ofshares

Source: Sawai, “Shiryo: Meiji-ki no Okabunushi,” 260.

18

Table 5. Noblemen’s Holding Structure (more than 10,000 shares owned, 1907)
Rank
25
39
50
53
57

Name
Maeda
Toshinari
Date
Munenobu
Matsudaira
Yorinaga
Tokugawa
Yoshiakira
Shimazu
Tadashige

Status# ofshares# ofissuesMarquis19,915

3

Firm

# of
sharesMeiji Commercial
Bank

9,000

Firm

Composition of the issues
# of
Firm
sharesThe 15th Bank

5,700

NYK Line JapanTokyo Ishikawajima
Shipbuilding Company

Marquis15,4994

The 20th Bank

9,319

The 1st Bank

4,376

Count

12,985

2

Tokyo Railway
Company

11,773

Odawara Electric
Railway Company

1,212

Marquis12,575

4

Aichi Bank

6,714

The 15th Bank

3,527

Prince11,624

2

The 15th Bank

6,000

Naniwa Bank

5,624

Hokkai Bank# ofsharesFirm# ofsharesIwaki
Minning

860

Maruhachi
Saving Bank

300

5,215
944

2,034

Source: Sawai, “Shiryo: Meiji-ki no Okabunushi,” 267.

Table 6. Revenue Structure of the Shimazu Family
Year
1885
1892

Bond
1.3
5.2

Composition（%）
EquityBusiness
93.1
73.4
20.0

Others
5.6
1.5

Total
（yen）
107,740
178,173

Source: Terao, “Daimyo Kazoku Shihon no Tanjo,” 43.

19

Table 7. Revenue Structure of the Kikkawa Family
Year
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909

Bond
26.3
26.7
25.7
26.9
26.2
12.6
16.3
11.7
7.5
9.8
11.2
8.0
6.3
7.1
8.8
4.8
5.9
5.7

Composition（%）
Share
Land
Loan
Proportion
# of
rent
interest(%)
issues
22.2
22.8
26.4
34.1
36.9
63.1
47.6
51.1
48.4
57.5
52.1
59.2
59.6
61.8
64.2
73.3
65.4
84.2

8
10
10
12
15
16
18
18
18
19
19
21
22
21
21
26
30
24

25.9
26.6
27.8
24.8
24.8
17.4
25.2
29.6
39.3
26.7
31.8
27.5
31.0
26.8
24.5
19.1
26.3
8.6

9.3
7.1
8.6
7.4
6.3
3.1
4.2
3.8
2.1
1.8
1.7
1.0
0.8
0.8
0.5
0.5
0.6
0.4

Depositinterest

Others

Total
(yen)

15.4
14.8
8.9
4.8
4.2
2.3
4.1
1.2
1.1
0.8
0.6
1.6
0.8
0.7
0.9
1.4
0.9
0.6

0.8
2.0
2.5
2.3
1.6
1.6
2.6
2.7
1.6
3.4
2.6
2.7
1.6
2.8
1.0
0.9
0.7
0.5

57,631
63,11566,19073,657
71,337125,066
88,842
101,689
146,559
108,11288,626116,999
127,695
135,671
186,560
262,263
188,114529,998

Source: Miura, “Meiji-ki ni okeru Kazoku Shihon no Keisei to Kougyoka Toshi,” 5, 14–15.

20

Table 8. Financial support by Tsugaru Tsuguakira: 1873–1916
Year
1871

1873

1874–1875
1875–1882
1877
1877
1877
1880
1882
1883
1885
1886
1890
1893–1897
1894
1895
1895
1895–1899
1896
1899
1900
1902
1909
1910

Helps toEx-samurai, doctors, painters, komono,and craftspeople of the former domain
Construction cost of the Imperial Palace
for The Ministry of the Imperial
Household *Funds to establish Toogijuku JuniorHigh School
Assembly hall for people of the former
domain in Tokyo
Operating expenses for Toogijuku JuniorHigh School
Policemen in Tokyo who came from
Aomori prefecture
People of the former domain who
worshipped the Tsugaru ancestors
People injured during the Seinan War**Victims of fire in Hirosaki city**
Preservation society of Danzan Shrine in
Nara prefecture
Toogijuku Junior High School
Kado Society
Hakuaisha
Victims of poor crop in Tsugaru
region***Toogijuku Junior High School
Hirosaki park, site of the Hirosaki Castle
ruins
Poor military families of the former
domainDead soldiers from the former domain in
the Sino‐Japanese War
Military training institution establishedby Aomori prefecture
Toogijuku Junior High School for landclearing work
Students of Aomori prefecture’s
dormitory in Tokyo
Poor people in Hirosaki and Aomori city
and Tsugaru region (presents given in
return for funeral offerings)***Victims of poor crop in Aomori
prefecture****Hirosaki park, site of the Hirosaki Castle
ruins
Victims of fire in Aomori city****Amount(Yen)n/a

For people of the former domain
and Aomori prefecture

Other

Type1

Type5

Type2

Type3

Type4

✓
✓

1,000

✓

5,000

✓

n/a

✓

24,000
450

✓

300

✓

500
2,000

n/a

✓

✓

500

✓

10,000
200
90
150

✓
✓

1,500

✓

n/a
544

✓

n.a.

✓

500

✓

n/a

✓

1,000

✓

425

✓

500

✓
✓

1,000
2,000

✓
✓

✓

Source: Tsugaru Tsuguakira Ko Den Kanko-kai, Tsugaru Tsuguakira Ko Den.
Note: See the text for an explanation of the five types. Each asterisks denotes that the medal was awarded for
Tsuguakira's contribution, * by The Ministry of the Imperial Household; ** by Dajokan, the supreme officeof the Meiji government; *** by Jokun-kyoku, the Decoration Bureau. For the asterisk ****, no data isavailable.

21

Hokkaido prefecture
Hokkaido Railway Company

Aomori prefecture
Tsugaru Railway Company

Iwate prefecture
Gan’etsu Railway Company

Kyoto prefecture
Kyoto Railway Company

Tokyo prefecture
The Japan Railroad Company
The 15th Bank

Kanagawa prefecture
Yokohama Specie Bank

Figure 1. Enterprises in which Tsuguakira Tsugaru owned shares and the locations of
their head offices during 31 December 1900 to January 1902
Source: Jugo Ginko Sonohoka Dome, 1901.

Aomori

Hokkaido 23

Akita 104
Iwate 5
Yamagata 3
Miyagi 2
Niigata 4
Fukushima 5

Ishikawa 2
Hyogo 2

Tochigi 1

Tottori 1

Ibaraki 1

Shimane 1
Saitama 3

Hiroshima 1

Tokyo 6

Fukuoka 1

Chiba 1

Yamanashi 1
Shizuoka 2
Kochi 1Tokushima1

Aichi 2
Shiga 1Figure 2. Graduates of Toogijuku by birthplace listed in the 1901 Alumni Directory(number of people)
Source: Toogijuku, Meiji Sanju-yo nen Gun-shi Betsu Dousou Meibo, 1901; Toogijuku. Meiji Sanju-yo nen
Iroha Betsu Dousou Meibo, 1901.
Note: There is one case where we cannot determine whether the graduate was born in Tokyo prefecture or in
Saitama prefecture.

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25

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Hirosaki City Public Library and Toogijuku High School
Library for providing access to the data. This work was supported by the JSPS
KAKENHI under Grant number JP15K13027.
Notes
1

Morikawa, Zaibatsu.
Patrick, “External Equilibrium and Internal Convertibility”; Tipton, “Government
Policy and Economic Development”; Tamaki, Japanese Banking.
3
Morikawa, Zaibatsu.
4
Tamaki, Japanese Banking.
5
Smith, The Agrarian Origins of Modern Japan.
6
Hirschmeier and Yui, Development of Japanese Business.
7
Dore, Education in Tokugawa Japan; Passin, Society and Education in Japan.
8
For detailed information, see Matsuo, Haihan Chiken; Otabe, Kazoku; Ochiai,
Chitsuroku Shobun.
9
In addition, koku was an important unit of the main tax, the land tax, during the
Tokugawa period and the early Meiji years, and was measured by the volume of riceproduced (1 koku was equivalent to about 180.39 litres of rice).
10
Matsudaira, “Meiji Shoki Owari Tokugawa-ke no Keizai Kozo.”
11
Yaseki, Meiji Chokuyu Chusyaku, 33–39.
12
Tsugaru Tsuguakira Koden Kanko-kai, Tsugaru Tsuguakira Ko Den, 336.
13
Ito, “Kazoku no Shogai Gakushu,” 28–29.
14
The pronunciation of ‘koshaku’ for prince and marquis is the same, but their Chinesecharacters are different.
15
Otabe, Kazoku, 322–360.
16
Otabe, Kazoku, Ch.1.
17
Iai, Kazoku Yoran, 21–42.
18
Ishii, Kindai Nihon Kinyu Shi Josetsu, 499–543.
19
Ericson, The Sound of the Whistle, 104–115; Schalow, “Transforming Railroads into
Steamships.”
20
These episodes are well known in Japanese business history. See Nakamura, Meiji
Taisho Shi Vol. 1, 334–335.
21
Ishikawa (1976) indicated the possibility that the equity investments of kazoku gave
the newly established companies some credibility, and, therefore, accelerated
investments as a whole (Ishikawa, “Kazoku Shihon to Shizoku Keieisha.”).
22
Imuta, “Kazoku Shisan to Toshi Kodo.”
23
Uchiyama, Meiji-ki no Kyu-Hanshu-ke to Shakai.
24
Within the daimyo, 9 of 391 members returned their peerage titles before 1947.
25
Maeda Toshitasu from the largest daimyo family ranked in 17th position among
upper-class taxpayers in 1947 when the property tax was introduced in Japan (Hirota,“Kyu Shisan Kaikyu no Botsuraku.”).
26
Terao, “Daimyo Kazoku Shihon no Tanjo,” 50–54.
226

Miura, “Meiji-ki ni okeru Kazoku Shihon no Keisei to Kougyoka Toshi,” 11–15.
Okubo, Nihon no Shozo.
29
According to his biography, he visited the former domain in 1885, 1908, and 1915.
30
Otabe, Kazoku, 97.
31
Before the Meiji period, daimyo had usually protected entertainment, such as sumo
wrestling, and Noh traditional masked dance drama (Ito, “Kazoku no Shogai Gakushu,”33). Donations to the kado society might have been such patron activity.
32
Horimatsu, Nippon Kyoiku Shi, 94.
33
Kanbe, “Hangaku kara Meiji no Chu-gakkou heno Renzokusei ni Kansuru Kosatsu”;
Uchiyama, Meiji-ki no Kyu-Hanshu-ke to Shakai.
34
Sakai, “Bakumatsu Meiji-Shonen no Hirosaki Han to Keio Gijuku,” 200–209.
35
Fukuzawa had visited the United States and Europe in 1860 and 1862, respectively,
as a member of a Japanese embassy to foreign countries.
36
Keio Gijuku, Keio Gijuku Goju Nen Shi.
37
Aomori-ken, Aomori-ken Shi, 868–869.
38
Tsugaru Tsuguakira Ko Den Kanko-kai, Tsugaru Tsuguakira Ko Den.
39
Akinaga, Kikuchi Kuro Den, 51–64.
40
Too Nippo [Daily Newspaper in Aomori Prefecture], December 22–23, 1900.
41
Tsugaru Tsuguakira Ko Den Kanko-kai, Tsugaru Tsuguakira Ko Den.
42
Tsugaru Tsuguakira Ko Den Kanko-kai, Tsugaru Tsuguakira Ko Den.
43
Akinaga, Kikuchi Kuro Den.
44
Kitahara, Yogaku Juyo to Chiho no Kindai. For details of this school, see Kitahara(2002).
45
Akinaga, Kikuchi Kuro Den.
46
Toogijuku, Meiji Sanju-yo nen Gun-shi Betsu Dousou Meibo; Toogijuku, Meiji
Sanju-yo nen Iroha Betsu Dousou Meibo.
47
Employees belonged to banks, trading companies, colliery companies, paper
companies, cotton spinning companies, printing companies, and so on.
48
Sasamori, Hirosaki Shiritsu Hirosaki Chugaku Toougijuku Enkaku-shi.
27
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