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Yasuda Zenjirōwas an entrepreneur who founded the Yasuda zaibatsu (“financial clique”), the fourth largest of the industrial and financial combines that dominated the Japanese economy until the end of World War II.
Of humble origin, Yasuda ran away from home to go to Tokyo, where he started work as a shop assistant and eventually began his own exchange brokerage. He prospered, becoming a major lender to the new Meiji government (1868–1912) and the founder of a giant banking empire. He soon branched out into industrial enterprises, buying up railways, shipping companies, and other businesses.
In his old age, he became one of Japan’s major philanthropists, endowing many fine arts and educational projects. He was assassinated by a young rightist who saw Yasuda as a symbol of the corrupting influence of business on government.
