Iwasaki Yataro

• Born: 1834
• Died: 1885
• Japanese: 岩崎 弥太郎 (Iwasaki Yatarou)

Photograph of Iwasaki Yataro

A goshi from Tosa who headed the han’s trading business in Nagasaki during the waning days of the Shogunate. He became a business associate of Sakamoto Ryoma through the Kaientai trading operations. Iwasaki was not particularly fond of Ryoma but "business was business". Iwasaki later formed the famous Mitsubishi Trading House and became one of Japan’s most successful businessmen of the Meiji period.

References

• Hillsborough, Romulus. RYOMA- Life of a Renaissance Samurai. Ridgeback Press, 1999
• Jansen, Marius B. Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration. Columbia University Press, 1994.