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Yukichi Fukuzawa was one of the most effective business entrepreneurs in early modern Japan. He was the inspiration of the Yokohama Specie Bank, without which the Japanese could not have set up a sound banking system. He instigated the bookstore chain Maruzen. He was adviser to the newly founded shipbuilding and mining Mitsubishi and helped drag the old established House of Mitsui into the modern age. It is no surprise that Fukuzawa is featured on the Japanese Yen 10000 bank note.

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Abbreviations List of Tables List of Maps List of Photos Fukuzawa Family Tree Fukuzawa Chronology Preface PART I: THE FATHERLESS BOY IN REBELLIOUS JAPAN, 1835-1859 Nakatsu and Nagasaki, Feudal Lords and Dutch Interlopers The Quest for Western Studies in Nagasaki and Osaka A Schoolmaster Learning English in Edo: ´His kimono pockets always full of books´ PART II: EXPLORING THE WEST, 1860=1867 Kanrinmaru, the First Japanese Journey Across the Pacific, February to June 1980 London a Treasure Trove: ´Enrich the country and strengthen the army´ a year in Europe, January 1862 to January 1863 On A Wild Goose Chase : a Mission to USA, February to July 1867 PART III: EDUCATING THE JAPANESE POPLE, 1866-1875 The Making of Conditions in the West ´I cannot work as a subordinate´ : Independence at Keio Gijuku, 1868, Tokyo (Edo) A Scholarly Entrepreneur: A Change of direction in the mid 1870s PART IV: LEARN AND EARN, EARN AND LEARN : The Entrepreneurial Businessman, 1869-1893 Maruzen, a Joint Stock Experiment The Yokohama Specie Bank, the Guardian of Japan´s Gold and Silver Mitsubishi the Three Diamonds and Yataro Iwasaki ´The Mitsui matter is very delicate indeed´ PART V: ´THE LEADER OF THE PEOPLE´ 1897-1901 Scholars Division of Labour: I am going to meet visitors in Kojunsha Jiji Shinpo out of the Political Turbulence of 1881: Leave Asia The Rise and Rise of Keio Businessmen: ´the genuine business method in the civilization´ ´The Saga of Mita´ Appendix: Directory of fifty men associated with Fukuzawa Notes Bibliography Index

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´Published in the centenary year of his death, this book supplies what has long been needed: a critical biography in English of a major Japanese figure. It contains fine illustrations and generous quotations from original sources which are of outstanding interest.´ - Ian Nish, The Japan Society

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NORIO TAMAKI is Professor of Japan´s Economic, Social and Banking History at Keio University.

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