Keiretsu | |
Founded | 1876 (foundation of Mitsui & Co.) |
Founder | Masuda Takashi |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Products | Food and beverage, industrial products, etc. |
Services | Financial services, real estate, retail, shipping, logistics, etc. |
Website | www |
Mitsui Group (三井グループ Mitsui Gurūpu?) is one of the largest keiretsu in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world.
The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. (general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sapporo Breweries, Toray Industries, Mitsui Chemicals, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Mitsui Fudosan.
Founded by Mitsui Takatoshi (1622–1694), who was the fourth son of a shopkeeper in Matsusaka, in what is now today's Mie prefecture. From his shop, called Echigoya (越後屋), Mitsui Takatoshi's father originally sold miso and ran a pawn shop business. Later, the family would open a second shop in Edo (now called Tokyo).
Takatoshi moved to Edo when he was 14 years old, and later his older brother joined him. Sent back to Matsutaka by his brother, Takatoshi waited for 24 years until his older brother died before he could take over the family shop, Echigoya. He opened a new branch in 1673; a large gofukuya (kimono shop) in Nihonbashi, a district in the heart of Edo. This genesis of Mitsui's business history began in the Enpō era, which was a nengō meaning "Prolonged Wealth".