Eiichi Shibusawa, A Pioneer of International Exchange Activities
IIMORI Akiko / Research Fellow, The Institute for Research in Language and Culture,Tsuda University
September 26, 2024
In the summer of 2024, three portraits were adopted for featuring in the new banknotes; Eiichi Shibusawa, a businessman, Umeko Tsuda, who paved the way for the higher education for women, and Shibazaburo Kitazato from the medical field. All three lived from the end of the Edo period to the beginning of the Showa period, with Shibusawa spending his time in France, Tsuda in the US, and Kitazato in Germany. In their youth, they gained various experiences, made many friends, and continued their interactions with foreign countries throughout their lives. In particular, Shibusawa, as a businessman involved in about 500 business activities and 600 social projects, hosted welcome events with those concerned for visiting foreign dignitaries, sometimes inviting them to his home. He thus involved himself in various international exchange activities. He believed that in order to create a prosperous society, it is important to balance morality and ethics with profit-seeking economic activities. This came to be known as Shibusawa’s ideal of “the harmony of morality and economy”. Shibusawa's experiences and recollections are summarized in such works as “Analects of Confucius and Abacus”, and the major leaguer Shohei Otani says he was inspired by reading “Analects of Confucius and Abacus”.
Born into a farming family in Saitama prefecture in 1840, Shibusawa helped his father in his family business and worked as a blue jade hawker, while studying Chinese classics since his boyhood. Eventually, through vicissitudes and happenstances, he sojourned in France in the entourage of Akitake Tokugawa (the brother of the last Shogun, Yoshinobu Tokugawa), who headed the Japanese delegation to the World Expo held in Paris at the end of Edo era in 1867, and visited other European countries. Looking after administrative affairs and accounting for Akitake’s stay as a foreign student, Shibusawa learned about the capitalist system in the Western countries and introduced it to Japanese society upon his return. Then, just 100 years ago, he founded the Maison franco-japonaise with Paul Claudel, French ambassador to Japan and writer.
In the meantime, the United States, which opened Japan to the outside world at the end of the Edo period, was Japan's largest trading partner during the Meiji and Taisho periods. However, as a large number of Japanese had emigrated moved to the U.S. since middle of the Meiji period, discrimination against Japanese immigrants in the U.S. continued, and this became a difficult issue between the U.S. and Japan, both diplomatically and economically. While consulting with businessmen from both countries to expand trade through four trips to the U.S. and other means, Shibusawa recognized the importance of activities to promote mutual understanding in addressing the issue of the exclusion of Japanese immigrants. So together with pundits from political and business circles, he engaged himself proactively in interactions with the Americans through participation in a variety of exchange activities, such as the America-Japan Society, the Japanese-American Relations Committee, and the Institute of Pacific Relations. Supporting an activity called the Blue-Eyed Doll Exchange for children in the early Showa period is one such example.
For China, he visited China just before the outbreak of World War I, and, together with Japanese businessmen, he was instrumental in promoting mutual understanding activity with the business circles in China through the Japan-China Business Association and other channels.
Shibusawa’s international exchange extended to humanitarian activities. Although the international situation at the time did not permit all the activities to go smoothly, he led private fundraising campaigns and relief efforts for natural disasters such as the San Francisco Earthquake (1904) and the Yangzi River Flood (1931) until just before his death. Furthermore, Shibusawa also helped with public lectures and fundraising campaigns on humanitarian issues, such as Armenian refugees, which the prewar Japanese government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs found difficult to address and support.
On the 10th anniversary of the ceasefire of World War I, Shibusawa made the following speech as President of the Japan League of Nation's Association on the radio:
“If international economics proceeds in accordance with the spirit of the League of Nations, it will be impossible to insist on defending the interests of one nation. (-------) After the achievement of economic peace, then, each person will be content with their life. It is therefore needless to say that the peace of economics is based on the peace of people. After the achievement of sympathy for others, that is, peace in heart, harmony in economic development shall be successful.” (p.265, Volume 48, “Shibusawa Eiichi Biographical Materials” 11 November 1928). Shibusawa said that “Chujo : sincerity and consideration”, that is, consideration for others is essential for economic development of a society and for peace in the international community.
IIMORI Akiko is Research Fellow, The Institute for Research in Language and Culture,Tsuda University
Born into a farming family in Saitama prefecture in 1840, Shibusawa helped his father in his family business and worked as a blue jade hawker, while studying Chinese classics since his boyhood. Eventually, through vicissitudes and happenstances, he sojourned in France in the entourage of Akitake Tokugawa (the brother of the last Shogun, Yoshinobu Tokugawa), who headed the Japanese delegation to the World Expo held in Paris at the end of Edo era in 1867, and visited other European countries. Looking after administrative affairs and accounting for Akitake’s stay as a foreign student, Shibusawa learned about the capitalist system in the Western countries and introduced it to Japanese society upon his return. Then, just 100 years ago, he founded the Maison franco-japonaise with Paul Claudel, French ambassador to Japan and writer.
In the meantime, the United States, which opened Japan to the outside world at the end of the Edo period, was Japan's largest trading partner during the Meiji and Taisho periods. However, as a large number of Japanese had emigrated moved to the U.S. since middle of the Meiji period, discrimination against Japanese immigrants in the U.S. continued, and this became a difficult issue between the U.S. and Japan, both diplomatically and economically. While consulting with businessmen from both countries to expand trade through four trips to the U.S. and other means, Shibusawa recognized the importance of activities to promote mutual understanding in addressing the issue of the exclusion of Japanese immigrants. So together with pundits from political and business circles, he engaged himself proactively in interactions with the Americans through participation in a variety of exchange activities, such as the America-Japan Society, the Japanese-American Relations Committee, and the Institute of Pacific Relations. Supporting an activity called the Blue-Eyed Doll Exchange for children in the early Showa period is one such example.
For China, he visited China just before the outbreak of World War I, and, together with Japanese businessmen, he was instrumental in promoting mutual understanding activity with the business circles in China through the Japan-China Business Association and other channels.
Shibusawa’s international exchange extended to humanitarian activities. Although the international situation at the time did not permit all the activities to go smoothly, he led private fundraising campaigns and relief efforts for natural disasters such as the San Francisco Earthquake (1904) and the Yangzi River Flood (1931) until just before his death. Furthermore, Shibusawa also helped with public lectures and fundraising campaigns on humanitarian issues, such as Armenian refugees, which the prewar Japanese government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs found difficult to address and support.
On the 10th anniversary of the ceasefire of World War I, Shibusawa made the following speech as President of the Japan League of Nation's Association on the radio:
“If international economics proceeds in accordance with the spirit of the League of Nations, it will be impossible to insist on defending the interests of one nation. (-------) After the achievement of economic peace, then, each person will be content with their life. It is therefore needless to say that the peace of economics is based on the peace of people. After the achievement of sympathy for others, that is, peace in heart, harmony in economic development shall be successful.” (p.265, Volume 48, “Shibusawa Eiichi Biographical Materials” 11 November 1928). Shibusawa said that “Chujo : sincerity and consideration”, that is, consideration for others is essential for economic development of a society and for peace in the international community.
IIMORI Akiko is Research Fellow, The Institute for Research in Language and Culture,Tsuda University
The English-Speaking Union of Japan
国際交流活動のパイオニア、渋沢栄一
飯森 明子 / 津田塾大学言語文化研究所特任研究員
2024年 9月 26日
2024年夏、新しいお札に実業家の渋沢栄一、女子高等教育の道を開いた津田梅子、医学の北里柴三郎、3人の肖像画が採用されました。3人とも幕末から昭和初めに生き、渋沢はフランス、津田はアメリカ、北里はドイツに滞在しました。彼らは若き日々に欧米社会で様々な体験をし、多くの友を得て、以来海外との交流は終生続きました。なかでも渋沢は実業家として約500の企業活動と約600の社会事業に関わりました。海外から要人が来日すると関係者と歓迎行事を開き､時には自宅に招待して、様々な国際交流活動をおこないました。豊かな社会を作るには、道徳や倫理と、利益を求める経済活動との両立が重要だと考え、渋沢の「道徳経済合一説」と言われています。そして渋沢の経験と回顧談は『論語と算盤』などにまとめられ、メジャーリーガーの大谷翔平選手も『論語と算盤』を読んで影響を受けたと言います。
1840年埼玉県の農家に生まれた渋沢は、少年時代から漢学を学びながら父と家業や藍玉行商の手伝いをしました。やがて様々な経緯と縁を経て､1867年幕末パリで開かれた万国博覧会の日本代表団長徳川昭武（最後の将軍、徳川慶喜の弟）に同行してフランスに滞在し､欧州の国々も訪問しました。渋沢は昭武の留学生活の庶務会計を担当しながら西欧の資本主義の仕組みを学び、帰国して日本社会に導入しました。そしてちょうど100年前､駐日大使で作家のポール・クローデルとともに日仏会館を設立しました。
さて、幕末、日本を開国したアメリカは明治大正時代の日本にとって最大の貿易相手国でした。しかし明治中期からアメリカに数多くの移民が移り住み、アメリカ国内では日本人移民に対する差別が続き、外交にも経済にも日米間の難題になりました。渋沢は両国の実業家達と4度の渡米などを通じて貿易拡大をはかる協議をしながら、日本人移民への排斥問題に対応するために、相互理解をすすめる活動が重要であると考えました。そこでアメリカをよく知る政財界知識人たちと日米協会や日米関係委員会､太平洋問題調査会など様々な交流活動に積極的にアメリカ人と関わりました。昭和初期、子供達を対象にした青い目の人形交流と呼ばれる活動支援もその一つです。中国に対しては第一次大戦開戦直前に中国を訪れる一方、国内実業家達とともに日華実業協会などを通じて中国実業界との相互理解活動を進めました。
渋沢の国際交流は人道活動にも及びます。当時の国際情勢から必ずしも全ての活動が順調とはいえませんが、例えば、サンフランシスコ大地震（1904年）や中国大洪水（1931年）など災害に民間の募金運動や救援活動を亡くなる直前まで主導しました。また渋沢は戦前の日本政府や外務省では対応や支援が難しかった人道問題にも、たとえばアルメニア難民について、講演や募金活動を支援しました。
第一次世界大戦休戦10周年の記念日､日本国際連盟協会会長として渋沢はラジオで次のような演説をしています。「国際間の経済の協調が、連盟の精神を以て行わるゝならば、決して一国の利益のみを主張することはできない。(略)経済の平和が行われて初めて各国民がその生に安んじることができる。而して、この経済の平和は、民心の平和に基を置かねばならぬことは、申すまでもありません。他に対する思いやりがあって、すなわち、自己に忠恕の心が充実して、初めてよく経済協調を遂げ得るのであります。」 （192811月11日『渋沢栄一伝記資料』第48巻､265頁）渋沢は、「忠恕(ちゅうじょ)」、すなわち相手に対する思いやりの心が、社会の経済発展にも国際社会の平和にも重要なのだと語っているのです。
筆者は津田塾大学言語文化研究所特任研究員
1840年埼玉県の農家に生まれた渋沢は、少年時代から漢学を学びながら父と家業や藍玉行商の手伝いをしました。やがて様々な経緯と縁を経て､1867年幕末パリで開かれた万国博覧会の日本代表団長徳川昭武（最後の将軍、徳川慶喜の弟）に同行してフランスに滞在し､欧州の国々も訪問しました。渋沢は昭武の留学生活の庶務会計を担当しながら西欧の資本主義の仕組みを学び、帰国して日本社会に導入しました。そしてちょうど100年前､駐日大使で作家のポール・クローデルとともに日仏会館を設立しました。
さて、幕末、日本を開国したアメリカは明治大正時代の日本にとって最大の貿易相手国でした。しかし明治中期からアメリカに数多くの移民が移り住み、アメリカ国内では日本人移民に対する差別が続き、外交にも経済にも日米間の難題になりました。渋沢は両国の実業家達と4度の渡米などを通じて貿易拡大をはかる協議をしながら、日本人移民への排斥問題に対応するために、相互理解をすすめる活動が重要であると考えました。そこでアメリカをよく知る政財界知識人たちと日米協会や日米関係委員会､太平洋問題調査会など様々な交流活動に積極的にアメリカ人と関わりました。昭和初期、子供達を対象にした青い目の人形交流と呼ばれる活動支援もその一つです。中国に対しては第一次大戦開戦直前に中国を訪れる一方、国内実業家達とともに日華実業協会などを通じて中国実業界との相互理解活動を進めました。
渋沢の国際交流は人道活動にも及びます。当時の国際情勢から必ずしも全ての活動が順調とはいえませんが、例えば、サンフランシスコ大地震（1904年）や中国大洪水（1931年）など災害に民間の募金運動や救援活動を亡くなる直前まで主導しました。また渋沢は戦前の日本政府や外務省では対応や支援が難しかった人道問題にも、たとえばアルメニア難民について、講演や募金活動を支援しました。
第一次世界大戦休戦10周年の記念日､日本国際連盟協会会長として渋沢はラジオで次のような演説をしています。「国際間の経済の協調が、連盟の精神を以て行わるゝならば、決して一国の利益のみを主張することはできない。(略)経済の平和が行われて初めて各国民がその生に安んじることができる。而して、この経済の平和は、民心の平和に基を置かねばならぬことは、申すまでもありません。他に対する思いやりがあって、すなわち、自己に忠恕の心が充実して、初めてよく経済協調を遂げ得るのであります。」 （192811月11日『渋沢栄一伝記資料』第48巻､265頁）渋沢は、「忠恕(ちゅうじょ)」、すなわち相手に対する思いやりの心が、社会の経済発展にも国際社会の平和にも重要なのだと語っているのです。
筆者は津田塾大学言語文化研究所特任研究員
一般社団法人 日本英語交流連盟