The Emergence and Transformation of the Divisional Management and Accounting Systems in the House of Mitsui, 1673-1872

Noboru NISHIKAWA

doi:10.5029/jrbh1984.12.99

Noboru NISHIKAWA

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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

1996 Volume 12 Pages 99-129

DOI https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh1984.12.99

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Published: March 15, 1996 Received: - Available on J-STAGE: June 28, 2010 Accepted: - Advance online publication: - Revised: -
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Date of correction: June 28, 2010 Reason for correction: - Correction: CITATION Details: Right : 1For discussions in English of merchant family management during the Tokugawa Period,see Johannes Hirschmeier and Tsunehiko Yui,The Development of Japanese Business,1600-1980,2nd ed.(London:George Allen&Unwin,1981),chap.1;and Yotara Sakudo,“The Management Practices of Family Business,”in Tokugawa Japan:The Social and Economic Antecedents of Modern Japan,Chie Nakane and Shinzaburo Oishi,eds.,trans.by Conrad Totman(Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press,1990).
2For more on accounting in the Tokugawa Period see Eiichiro Ogura,“The Nakai Family's Bookkeeping System,”Accounting and Business Research,vol.12,no.46(Spring1982),pp.148-52;and Noboru Nishikawa,“The Accounting Inheritance of the Tokugawa Period,”in Japanese Business Success:The Evolution of Strategy,Takeshi Yuzawa,ed.(London:Routledge,1994).
3This paper is a condensation of chapters1to4of my book Mitsui-ke kanjo kanken[A study of the accounting system in the House of Mitsui](Hakuto Shobo,1993).(Chapters5and6of the book deal with methods of ledger entry and other bookkeeping techniques.)In the production of the book I made use of the historical documents on accounting kept in the Mitsui Research Institute for Social and Economic History(in Nakano-ku,Tokyo;in Japanese it is known as the Mitsui Bunko).The Institute has approximately100,000source materials;apart from reference works(including manuscripts from the Tokugawa Period and old maps)and microfilms,there are about66,000 primary sources called Mitsui ke kiroku bunsho[House of Mitsui archival collection],of which over46,000are from the Tokugawa Period and the rest from the Meiji Period or later.Most of the materials from the Edo Period are accounting documents,but of these there are few of the books that were kept daily;by far the great majority are financial statements and other relevant detailed documents.Omotokata[great headquarters]financial statements are to be found almost intact from the start of the1710financial year to the end of the1892financial year.The financial statements of individual shops are also there,almost intact,and including documents with relevant particulars, from the start of1818to around1871;earlier documents are only fragmentary,but from summaries of financial statements and duplicates it is possible to know something about financial matters from about1720on.For business content and financial figures I have relied on earlier research:Mitsuijigyo shi[The business history of Mitsui],vol.1(Mitsui Bunko,1989);Nihon Keieishi Kenkyujo[Institute for Japanese Business History],ed.,Mitsui ryogae-dana[The Mitsui money exchange shop](Mitsui Bank,Inc.,1983);Takayuki Kagawa,Kinsei Mitsui keieishi no kenkyu[The business history of the House of Mitsui in the premodern era](Tokyo:Yoshikawa Kobunkan,1985).
4For a history of the House of Mitsui from its inception through to the present day,see John G.Roberts,Mitsui:Three Centuries of Japanese Business(New York and Tokyo:Weatherhill,1973).For the House of Mitsui's growth into a zaibatsu,see Hidemasa Morikawa,Zaibatsu:The Rise and Fall of Family Enterprise Groups in Japan(Tokyo:University of Tokyo Press,1992),chaps.1-3.
5It was1132people in1772,when the total number of employees peaked.
6We do not have figures for the Kyoto Silk Yarn Shop and the Kyoto Ainomachi Yarn Shop.
7We do not have figures for the Kyoto Banking Shop.

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