Kanagawa prefectural museum of cultural history01s3200

was a Japanese bank founded in

Yokohama, Japan is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

in the year 1880. Its assets were transferred to

The Bank of Tokyo was a Japanese foreign exchange bank that operated from 1946 to 1996. In January 1996, it merged with Mitsubishi Bank to form The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (now MUFG Bank). Its headquarters was in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo, adjacent to the ...

(now

MUFG Bank is the largest bank in Japan. It was established on January 1, 2006, following the merger of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. and UFJ Bank Ltd. MUFG is one of the three so-called Japanese "megabanks" (along with SMBC and Mizuho). As such, ...

) in 1946. The bank played a significant role in Japanese overseas trade, especially with China. The original bank building is now the

Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History also known as the Yokohama Museum of Cultural History is a history museum in Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. Its exhibition focuses on the culture and history of Kanagawa Prefecture. It is located in the building of the former Yokohama ...

Background

Following the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1859,

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

was opened as a port for foreign trade and quickly grew in importance. Through the New Currency Act of 1871, Japan adopted the

gold standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the la ...

along international lines, with 1

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

corresponding to 1.5g of pure gold. Silver coins were also issued for trade with Asian countries who favoured silver as a currency, thus establishing a

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

gold-silver standard.

Japan Currency Museum __NOTOC__ The , formally known as the is a museum about Japanese currency located in front of the Bank of Japan building in Chūō, Tokyo. The museum opened in November 1985.Edan CorkillBank of Japan Currency Museum invests in exhibition on wa ...

(日本貨幣博物館) permanent exhibit However, inflation caused by the 1877

Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and beca ...

and the outflow of a large amount of silver due to increased imports, a large discrepancy arose between government-issued banknotes and specie coin. This became a source of trouble for the merchants in Yokohama, as specie rather than banknotes came to be demanded for foreign trade. On 28 February 1880, a syndicate of 22 people with the support of

Fukuzawa Yukichi was a Japanese educator, philosopher, writer, entrepreneur and samurai who founded Keio University, the newspaper '' Jiji-Shinpō'', and the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases. Fukuzawa was an early advocate for reform in Japan. His ...

and

Inoue Kaoru Marquess Inoue Kaoru (井上馨, January 16, 1836 – September 1, 1915) was a Japanese politician and a prominent member of the Meiji oligarchy during the Meiji period of the Empire of Japan. As one of the senior statesmen (''Genrō'') in Jap ...

established a bank in accordance with the National Bank Act to ensure the availability of specie for the trading community. The bank had an initial capitalization of three million Yen, of which one million was invested by the Ministry of Finance. The bank was modeled after the

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong K ...

, which had a great influence on Japan's overseas trade and foreign exchange at the time. A branch office was opened in

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

later the same year. In 1884 the bank was appointed by the Ministry of Finance to manage Japan's foreign exchange. A branch office in London was opened in December. In July 1887, the government promulgated the Yokohama Specie Bank Ordinance, which stipulated that branch offices be established everywhere that was regarded as important to Japanese foreign trade and authorized that an administrator from the Ministry of Finance would be assigned to monitor the bank's operations. This Ordinance was revised in 1889 to authorize the Japanese government to overrule any decision by its directors, and if deemed necessary, to replace the directors with others of its choosing. A branch office was opened in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

in 1893. This was the first of many offices which would eventually be established throughout China. In 1894 a branch was established in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. With the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

of 1904 to 1905, the Yokohama Specie Bank established branches in the

Kwantung Leased Territory The Kwantung Leased Territory ( ja, 關東州, ''Kantō-shū''; ) was a leased territory of the Empire of Japan in the Liaodong Peninsula from 1905 to 1945. Japan first acquired Kwantung from the Qing Empire in perpetuity in 1895 in the Trea ...

and served as paymaster for the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

. From 1906, under its 7th president,

Takahashi Korekiyo Viscount was a Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Peers, as Prime Minister of Japan from 1921 to 1922, and as the head of the Bank of Japan and Ministry of Finance. Takahashi made many contributions to Japan's develop ...

the bank was permitted to issue its own banknotes for use in the Kwantung Leased Territory and in China. In July of the same year, Japan's first leased line telephone opened between the

Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. History Like most modern Japanese instituti ...

and the Yokohama Specie Bank head office. In 1911, the bank signed an underwriting agreement with the

Imperial Chinese The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the ''Book of Documents'' (early chapter ...

Chunghwa Post Chunghwa Post Co., Ltd. is the official postal service of Taiwan (officially the Republic of China). Chunghwa Post was a government agency of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications until 2003, when it was reorganized into a governm ...

for the establishment of a postal banking system in China. In the Taisho period, the Yokohama Specie Bank became one of the three major exchange banks in the world. The bank continued in its role as the paymaster for the Imperial Japanese Army during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

and

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, assisted by its widespread branch office network. Its assets in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

were seized by the United States government in 1941. In 1946, following the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

, the bank was officially merged with

as part of anti-''

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 signi ...

'' ordinances issued by the American occupation authorities. The bank was finally liquidated in 1963.

International expansion

* 1880 - New York agency * 1881 - London sub-branch * 1884 - London sub-branch is upgraded to a full branch * 1893 -

branch (currently Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Shanghai Branch) * 1894 -

branch * 1909 -

Dalian Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on the ...

branch (currently:

Bank of China The Bank of China (BOC; ) is a Chinese majority state-owned commercial bank headquartered in Beijing and the fourth largest bank in the world. The Bank of China was founded in 1912 by the Republican government as China's central bank, repl ...

, Dalian Branch) * 1910 -

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

branch (currently: Zhongrong Group) * 1910 –

branch, architect Harry Livingston Kerr * 1912 -

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

branch(currently Heilongjiang Museum) * 1915 -

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

branch * 1919 -

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

branch (currently Qingdao Bank of Qingdao Branch) * 1921 -

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers wher ...

branch (currently Hubei International Trust Investment Corporation) * 1924 -

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...

branch (currently Vladimir K. Arseniev Museum of Far East History) * 1925 -

Mukden Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the provi ...

branch (currently Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Zhongshan Square Branch) * 1926 -

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

branch (currently Bank of China Tianjin Branch)

Miscellaneous

* 4 October 1918 – London branch sub-manager S. Ujie, his wife and three sons, together with bank employee Takashi Aoki and wife Sueko, die when German UBoat UB-91 sinks the .

Gallery

File:Kobe city museum02s3200.jpg, Kobe branch (now The Kobe City Museum) File:Shookin Bank Nagasaki.jpg, Nagasaki branch File:外滩24号.JPG, Shanghai, China branch File:YSB Beijing.jpg, Beijing, China branch File:YSB Tientsin.jpg, Tianjin, China branch File:Yokohama Specie Bank Dalian.JPG, Dalian, China branch File:Honolulu-Yokohama-Specie-Bank.JPG, Honolulu, Hawaii branch

Past presidents

* First (December 1879 – July 1882) Nakamura Michita * Second (July 1882 – January 1883)

Ōno Mitsukage ONO, Ono or Ōno may refer to: Places Fiji * Ono Island (Fiji) Israel * Kiryat Ono * Ono, Benjamin, ancient site Italy * Ono San Pietro Ivory Coast * Ono, Ivory Coast, a village in Comoé District Japan * Ōnojō Castle Ruins, Ōno ...

* Third (January 1883 – March 1883) Shirasu Taizō * Fourth (March 1883 – March 1890) Hara Rokurō * Fifth (1890 March – April 1897) Sonoda Kokichi * Sixth (March 1897 – March 1906) Sōma Nagatane * Seventh (March 1906 – June 1911)

* 8th (March 1911 – February 1913) Mishima Yatarō * 9th (February 1913 - September 1913) Mizumachi Kesaroku * 10th (September 1913 – March 1919)

Junnosuke Inoue was a Japanese people, Japanese financier and statesman of the Taisho and Showa eras. He was the 9th and 11th Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ). Biography Inoue was born in Ōita Prefecture. A graduate of the Imperial University of Tokyo. I ...

Tamaki, Norio. (1995). * 11th (March 1919 – March 1922) Kajihara Nakaji * 12th (March 1922 – September 1936) Kodama Kenji * 13th (September 1936 – March 1943) Toshikata Ōkubo * 14th (March 1943 – June 1945) Hideshige Kashiwagi * 15th (1945 June–July 1946) Shōji Arakawa * 16th (1946-June–December 1946), Itsuki Takada

References

External links

*
Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History

* ttp://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/August-2004/Our-Town-Yokohama-Specie-Bank-Building/ Our Town: Yokohama Specie Bank Building
Building’s corner entry even grander than most
{{Authority control Defunct banks of Japan Companies based in Yokohama Imperial Japanese Army Military history of Japan during World War II Banks established in 1880 Banks disestablished in 1946 Japanese companies established in 1880 1946 disestablishments in Japan Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group