Profile
渋沢栄一（しぶさわ えいいち）は、1840年に武蔵国血洗島村（現・埼玉県深谷市）に生まれた実業家・思想家。幕末に一橋徳川家に仕え、明治政府の大蔵省で日本の近代的金融制度の整備に尽力した後、1873年に第一国立銀行（現みずほ銀行の源流）を設立。生涯で約500の企業・団体の設立・育成に関わり、「日本資本主義の父」と称された。著書『論語と算盤』で「道徳経済合一説」を唱え、倫理と経済は両立するという思想を広めた。2024年発行の新1万円札の肖像に採用。1931年没、享年91歳。
Eiichi Shibusawa (1840–1931) was a Japanese industrialist, banker, and social reformer widely revered as the “Father of Japanese Capitalism.” Born in Musashi Province (present-day Shibusawa Village, now Fukaya City, Saitama) into a farming family, he became involved in Sonnō jōi movements during the late Edo period before entering service under the Hitotsubashi domain, where he gained his first exposure to finance and administration. In 1867, he accompanied Tokugawa Akitake to the Paris World Exposition, where he was deeply impressed by Europe’s modern economic and banking systems.
After the Meiji Restoration, Shibusawa joined the Ministry of Finance and played a central role in modernizing Japan’s financial infrastructure. Leaving government in 1873, he founded the First National Bank (Dai-Ichi Kokuritsu Ginko, a forerunner of Mizuho Bank) and went on to establish or nurture approximately 500 companies and organizations over his lifetime — including Tokyo Gas, Osaka Spinning, Sapporo Brewery, and the Imperial Hotel. His approach, known as “Gappon-shugi” (cooperative capitalism), emphasized broad participation over monopolistic concentration of wealth.
His landmark 1916 book “The Analects and the Abacus” (Rongo to Soroban) argued that Confucian ethics and commercial enterprise are natural partners, not opposites — a radical idea in an era when business was often regarded as morally inferior to the samurai or scholar classes. Shibusawa also devoted himself to social welfare causes, helping establish institutions for the elderly and supporting modern education. He died in 1931 at age 91. In 2024, his portrait was selected for Japan’s new 10,000-yen banknote.