Mitsubishi

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An ambitious young man named Yataro Iwasaki launched the first Mitsubishi company--a shipping firm--in 1870. Japan had just emerged from centuries of feudal isolation and was racing to catch up with the West. Yataro's new business grew rapidly and diversified into a broad range of manufacturing and commerce. World War II brought an end to Mitsubishi as an integrated organization. But independent companies that trace their roots to the old Mitsubishi are active today in nearly every sector of industry.

Yataro Iwasaki was from the city 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, and used three steamships chartered from the clan. That was the beginning of Mitsubishi.

Origins of the Mitsubishi Emblem:

The name of the new company changed to Mitsukawa Shokai in 1872 and to Mitsubishi Shokai in 1874. Yataro chose a corporate emblem that combined the three oak leaves of the Tosa crest and the three stacked diamonds of his family crest. That emblem is the source of the name, Mitsubishi, which means "three diamonds."

Yataro made a public display of patriotism in 1874, providing ships to carry Japanese troops to Taiwan. That earned Mitsubishi the gratitude of the government, which rewarded him with 30 vessels. Yataro changed his company's name to Mitsubishi Mail Steamship in 1875, when it inherited the employees and facilities of a mail service disbanded by the government.