Niihama: Part 3

Teigo Iba, the modernizer of Sumitomo

As mentioned in the previous section, Teigo Iba, the second director-general, was known as a “man of noble character” in Ishiyama where he lived during his retirement and praised as a “man of the utmost integrity” by Jun Kawada, who had served as a former managing director of Sumitomo Goshi Kaisha and was also a poet. During his four-year tenure as director-general, he worked tirelessly to strengthen the foundation of Sumitomo’s business. Iba’s retirement at the age of 58 accorded with his conviction that “What is most harmful to business development are not the mistakes of youth but the dominance of the old.” The people who had worked with him were most reluctant to see him step down.

Teigo Iba, a nephew of the first Director-General Saihei Hirose, was born in what is today Omihachiman City, Shiga Prefecture. Initially pursuing a career as a judicial official, he was appointed a judge at the Osaka Superior Court. However, as related in The History of Sumitomo and other publications, Iba, frustrated by what he viewed as the incapacity of the bureaucracy, resigned from his position as a judicial official in 1879. Deciding to embark on a career with Sumitomo at Hirose’s suggestion, he joined Sumitomo at the age of 33 and was appointed general manager of the Osaka Head Office.

By 1894 Iba was running Sumitomo’s various businesses on behalf of Hirose. Three years later, in 1897, he was appointed deputy director-general), and after a further three years, in 1900 at the age of 54, he became the second director-general. Although the influence of his uncle was an advantage, Iba’s rapid ascent to the top position undoubtedly reflected his admirable character and evident capabilities.

Iba’s first task as the director-general was to modernize Sumitomo’s management. Overhauling the organizational structure, he streamlined administrative operations and also established a private school and a hospital. He upgraded the facilities of the Besshi Copper Mines. The attention Iba paid to cultural and educational matters reflected his vision of Sumitomo’s future. Especially noteworthy was his emphasis on fostering and promoting youthful talent, including recruitment of gifted people from outside Sumitomo.

Mr. Teruaki Sueoka, Deputy Director of Sumitomo Historical Archives, observes: “Saihei Hirose, the first director-general, recruited experienced people who possessed the spirited determination necessary to steer Sumitomo through a period of dramatic change. In contrast, operating in a more stable era and looking 50 or even 100 years ahead, Teigo Iba focused on securing talented young people. Both Hirose and Iba recruited mid-career professionals, but Iba recruited a greater number of aspiring young people who were dissatisfied with their careers as government officials.”

Among those Iba recruited were Masaya Suzuki, 35 years old and an official of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Kinkichi Nakada, 36, and Masatsune Ogura, 24. They joined Sumitomo as energetic, capable, young men and all went on to serve in the top post of director-general. After Saihei Hirose, Shunnosuke Furuta was the first person to become director-general who had spent his entire working life at Sumitomo. Furuta’s ascent through organization reflected Iba’s human resources development policy.
With these capable people in leadership positions, the organizational structure and managerial systems of the House of Sumitomo became increasingly sophisticated. Iba applied the maxim “People make the enterprise,” establishing a tradition that still flourishes at Sumitomo.

Teigo Iba faithfully adhered to Sumitomo’s policy of undertaking “projects beneficial to the nation from a long-term perspective” and, with that in mind, pursued “planning imbued with a farsighted perspective.” In fact, to a remarkable extent, Iba’s initiatives appear to have anticipated the environmental issues that figure so prominently in the 21st century.

Teigo Iba’s enthusiasm for afforestation, anticipating CSR

In a commemorative lecture for the Traveling Exhibition “Achievements of Saihei Hirose and Teigo Iba,” Mr. Sueoka, Deputy Director of Sumitomo Historical Archives, explained: “This powerful idea, namely, that humankind is part of nature and nature will take revenge if people do not respect it, is deeply embedded in Japan and the wider East Asian region. So we can readily appreciate why Iba embarked on an afforestation project, which at its peak involved the planting of more than two million saplings annually. As a result, forests once more flourish on the slopes of the Besshi mountains.”

As Mr. Sueoka commented, these days the Besshi mountains are a richly forested area that delights hikers. Having suffered pollution and deforestation, Shisakajima underwent a similar transformation. Much of the hilly island’s terrain had been stripped of its natural forest cover and exposed to the elements. Saplings were planted but restoring the forest was not a simple matter. Iba shipped in soil from Honshu. Sumitomo entered into agreements with farmers to pay compensation for damage and restricted its production. Meanwhile, Sumitomo spent heavily on research to develop technology for desulfurization and neutralization of sulfurous acid gas, which eventually bore fruit in the 1939, although unfortunately Iba did not live to experience that success.

In view of the contemporary focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR), Sumitomo’s efforts, though praiseworthy, would not be exceptional nowadays. But Hirose, Iba, and succeeding director-generals took action over 100 years ago, long before environmental issues rose to the top of the global agenda. In their thinking and their actions, the past leaders of Sumitomo were way ahead of their time.

Visiting industrial heritage sites associated with the Besshi Copper Mines