The founder of Mitsubishi Shokai ,
Yataro Iwasaki.
(Source: The Mitsubishi Archives)
The Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company board members.
(Source: The Mitsubishi Archives)
In 1870 a former samurai, Yataro Iwasaki, set up his own company, Tsukumo Shokai (renamed Mitsubishi Shokai in 1873), which was largely involved in shipping. Mitsubishi supplied transport ships to the Japanese government that helped defeat the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, the most serious challenge to the new Meiji regime — thus intertwining the company with the rise of the modern Japanese state.