Rising in the World: The Roots of the Businessmen Who Built Japanese Capitalism

In a famous 1882 incident, Itagaki Taisuke was attacked while traveling in Gifu Prefecture, after which he is reported to have said, “Itagaki may die, but liberty never!” The scene is depicted here in the woodcut Itagaki-kun sōnan no zu (The Attack on Itagaki) by Utagawa Toyonobu. (Courtesy Kōchi Liberty and People’s Rights Museum)

Fukuzawa Yukichi. (Courtesy National Diet Library)

Iwasaki Yatarō’s family home. (Courtesy Aki Tourist Association)

A bronze statue of Iwasaki Yatarō constructed near his home in Kōchi Prefecture. (Courtesy Aki Tourist Association)

The birthplace of Shibusawa Eiichi. (Courtesy Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Museum, Fukaya, Saitama)

The group who traveled to the Paris International Exhibition in 1867. Shibusawa Eiichi is to the far left of the back row. (Courtesy Shibusawa Memorial Museum, Kita, Tokyo)

While in Europe, Shibusawa cut his chonmage topknot and began wearing Western clothes. (Courtesy Shibusawa Memorial Museum, Kita, Tokyo)