Japan

Organized Panel Session

(2) - Nobility (Kazoku) and Stock Purchase in Modern Japan

During the early Meiji period, members of the modern Japanese nobility (kazoku) proactively invested their assets in stocks. Aristocrats’ involvement in the stock market was a unique phenomenon to Japan, which hardly happened in Europe. Why did Japanese aristocrats invest in stock? How did they find the investment profitable despite the youth of Japan’s stock market that did not seem to guarantee the success of their investment?

            This paper pays attention to what shaped aristocrats’ decision to invest in stock. After the fall of Tokugawa rule in 1868, domain lords endorsed the new government and joined the newly created Japanese aristocracy. As hereditary aristocrats, they received huge hereditary stipends between 1869 and 1876. Commoner writers in newspapers criticized them for their unsatisfactory contribution to Japanese society despite their significant stipends. In short, these aristocrats had to show their own significance. Under these circumstances, noble families took counsel from their stewards (karei) and advisors, who helped these aristocrats expand their financial assets. Many kazoku families became wealthy capitalists in the nineteenth century, which seems to show the continuity in the wealth of elites across 1868. However, by focusing on the ways these aristocrats managed their wealth, this paper also shows that privileges of hereditary elites could not be maintained without merit in modern Japan.

Speaker(s)

• KU

  Kazuyuki Uchiyama

  Osaka University of Economics, Japan