The is a Japanese corporate group and ''

keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings that dominated the Japanese economy in the second half of the 20th century. In the legal sense, it is a type of business group that is in a loosely organized al ...

'' that traces its roots to the ''

zaibatsu is a Japanese language, Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertical integration, vertically integrated business conglomerate (company), conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over signifi ...

'' groups that were dissolved after World War II. Unlike the ''zaibatsu'' of the pre-war period, there is no controlling company with regulatory power. Instead, the companies in the group hold shares in each other, but they are limited to exchanging information and coordinating plans through regular meetings.

History

The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

founded circa 1615 by Masatomo Sumitomo, a former Buddhist monk. Even today, management of the group is guided by his "Founder's Precepts", written in the 17th century.

Copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

refining made the company famous. Riemon Soga, Masatomo Sumitomo's brother-in-law, learned

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

methods of copper refining. In 1590, he established a smelting business, ''Izumiya'', literally meaning " spring shop". Riemon perfected techniques that allowed the extraction of

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

from copper ore, something Japanese technology had not previously accomplished. The smelting and smithing business was moved from Kyoto to

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

by the late 17th century. Soga passed control of the company to his son Tomomochi who managed its transformation into a major trading house during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. Sumitomo began to export copper, import

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

, and provide financial services. By 1691,

copper mining Copper extraction is the multi-stage process of obtaining copper from list of copper ores, its ores. The conversion of copper ores consists of a series of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with coun ...

had been added to the portfolio. Japanese crest Igeta

The

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

allowed Sumitomo to import and utilize Western machines and techniques in its mines. Sumitomo soon branched out into even more business areas entering the machine and coal industries, as well as the forestry, banking and warehousing businesses becoming a ''

'', or business conglomerate. After World War II, the Japanese ''zaibatsu'' conglomerates, including Sumitomo, were dissolved by the GHQ and the Japanese government. The group reformed as a ''

'', a group of independent companies organized around The Sumitomo Bank (now

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is a Japanese multinational banking financial services institution owned by the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, which is also known as the SMBC Group. It is headquartered in the same building as SMBC Group in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. ...

) and bound together by cross shareholding. Many companies continue to use the word ''Sumitomo'' in their corporate names. Most of them are managed independently and listed at

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. The exchange is owned by Japan Exchange Group (JPX), a holding company that it also lists (), and operated by Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc., a wholly owned sub ...

(TSE) and other stock exchanges with highly dispersed shareholders. For some, the name only shows their historic origin, and they are no longer considered part of the Sumitomo Group. In 1982, Sumitomo reported an energy conservation program.

Emblem

The

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

-shaped ''igeta'' mark is reminiscent of a type of frame placed over a well in premodern Japan and was the logo of Riemon Soga's ''Izumiya'' company.

Current or former Sumitomo Group members

Nikkei 225 The Nikkei 225, or , more commonly called the ''Nikkei'' or the ''Nikkei index'' (), is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It is a price-weighted index, operating in the Japanese yen, Japanese Yen (JP¥), and its compone ...

constituent company.

References

External links

*
Sumitomo Group Public Affairs Committee
*

Official Sumitomo Site *
Sumitomo Corporation website: historical information
{{Authority control 1630 establishments in Japan Companies based in Hyōgo Prefecture Companies based in Osaka Prefecture Companies established in 1630 Companies in the Nikkei 225 Conglomerate companies based in Tokyo Keiretsu Mitsui Zaibatsu