The was a trading and shipping

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

and private navy, considered to be the first corporation in

modern Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to Japanese Paleolithic, prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millenni ...

. Kaientai, originally named Kameyama Shachū (亀山社中, "Kameyama Troupe"), was founded by Sakamoto Ryōma in Nagasaki in 1865 during the Bakumatsu, and it was initially funded by the

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, ...

and other groups and domains. The logo of SoftBank Group is based on the idea of a "21st century Kaientai".

Members of Kaientai

Born in Tosa Domain

* Sakamoto Ryōma – a commanding officer of Kaientai * Iwasaki Yatarou * Sawamura Sōnojho * Sasaki Takayuki – a second commanding officer of Kaientai after Ryōma's death * Nagaoka Ken'ichi * Ishida Eikichi * Sakamoto Nao – Ryōma's adopted child * Sugano Kakubei * Jingū Umanosuke * Nomura Koreaki

Born in Echizen Province

* Seki Yoshiomi * Watanabe Gōhachi * Odani Kōzō

Born in Kishū Domain

* Mutsu Munemitsu

References

External links

Nagasaki Kameyamashachū Memorial Museum
''(Japanese)'' {{Authority control Nagasaki 1860s establishments in Japan Meiji Restoration Japanese Navy Shipping companies of Japan