Dan Takuma

Dan Takuma

Dan Takuma in Boston

Dan Takuma ( Japanese 團 琢磨 ; born September 7, 1858 in Fukuoka Prefecture ; died March 5, 1932 ) was a Japanese businessman during the Meiji , Taishō and early Shōwa periods . In 1928 he was made a baron .

life and work

Dan Takuma came from a samurai family in the Fukuoka area. In 1871 he was taken to the United States as part of the Iwakura mission , where he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1878 as a mining engineer. After his return, he taught at the University of Tokyo for a short time , then moved to the Ministry of Public Works (工部 省, Kōbu-shō) and became an engineer at the Miike coal mines (三 池 炭 鉱, Miike tankō) in Fukuoka Prefecture.

The coal mines were taken over by the Mitsui company in 1888. Takuma went with them and made them successful as a leader. In 1914 he was appointed director of the Mitsui Holding Company (三井 合 名 会 社, Mitsui Gōmei Kaisha) and was thus appointed head of the entire Mitsui conglomerate.

Dan was a member of the Nihon Keizai Remmei (日本 経 済 連 盟) and the Nihon Kōgyō Kurau (日本 工業 俱 楽 部) a leading figure in Japanese entrepreneurship at home and abroad. In 1921 he headed a business delegation to the USA and England. He opposed all union activity and was successful in 1929 in rejecting the union law proposed by the Hamaguchi cabinet .

Dan was murdered on March 5, 1932 by a member of the "Blood League".

Remarks

1. ↑ Left Dan Takuma, in the middle the politician Kaneko Kentarō (1853–1942), right the diplomat Kurino Shinichirō (栗 野 慎 一郎; 1851–1937)
2. ↑ The "Blood League" (血盟 団, Ketsu meidan) was a right-wing terrorist association of impoverished farmers that was organized by Inoue Nisshō (1886-1967).

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Dan Takuma . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X
• Hunter, Janet: Dan Takuma . In: Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. Kodansha International, 1984. ISBN 4-7700-1193-8 .

Web links

Commons : Dan Takuma  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Dan is the family name, Takuma the first name.