Masaya Suzuki : Part 2

Suzuki had the Head Office handle the recruitment of all new Sumitomo employees. Reflecting their preferences, new employees were assigned to Sumitomo Besshi Mine, Sumitomo Copper Works, Sumitomo Casting Works, Sumitomo Electric Wire & Cable Works, Sumitomo Bank, and so on. Regardless of the enterprises to which they were assigned, whether at the Head Office or other organizations, a uniform system of remuneration and benefits was applied to all new employees.

In November 1918, Suzuki built the Neisei Dormitory, company quarters for unmarried employees, at Unagidani in Osaka where Sumitomo family’s main residence had once stood. Suzuki’s commitment to fostering capable people who would be the future leaders of Sumitomo is evident in the name of the dormitory, coined by Suzuki, which alludes to the maxim “Tranquility yields transcendence” in The Three Kingdoms, a 14th century Chinese romance. Based on his conviction that “business ought to endeavor to serve the nation and work for the benefit of humanity,” Suzuki recognized the need to recruit talented young people, develop their capabilities, and give them opportunities to apply those capabilities to the maximum extent. Suzuki sometimes stayed at the dormitory and engaged in heart-to-heart discussions with the young employees.

Suzuki attracted talented people from diverse backgrounds who joined Sumitomo from the end of the Meiji era through the Taisho era. Among these people who had already made their mark in the world were Kinkichi Nakada (fourth director-general) from the Tokyo Court of Appeals (the present-day Tokyo High Court), Kankichi Yukawa (fifth director-general) from the Ministry of Communications, Masatsune Ogura (sixth director-general, subsequently Minister of Finance) from the Ministry of Home Affairs, and Komatsuchi Odaira (general manager of Besshi Mine Office, subsequently vice president of the South Manchuria Railway) from the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. Suzuki paid just as much attention to cultivating young men fresh from university who were taking their first steps in the world of work and went on to propel Sumitomo’s development, such as Jun Kawada (managing director of Sumitomo Head Office, subsequently a poet), Kageji Washio (managing director of Sumitomo Besshi Mine), Shunnosuke Furuta (seventh director-general), Keijiro Kitazawa (director of Sumitomo Head Office, subsequently president of Daimaru), Yoshio Tanaka (director of Sumitomo Head Office, subsequently chairman of the Board of Education of Osaka City), Shozaburo Kawai (director of Sumitomo Head Office, subsequently president of Osaka Building), and Tadayoshi Obata. Sumitomo alumni also included the architects Eikichi Hasebe and Kenzo Takekoshi (founders of the present-day Nikken Sekkei); Banri Ebara (professor of Tokyo Imperial University), Kokichi Kurosaki, and Tadao Yanaihara (president of The University of Tokyo), who were Christians and followers of the evangelist Kanzo Uchimura; and Karoku Hosokawa who subsequently became a member of the House of Councilors.

The Analects of Confucius states, “To rule by virtue is like the way the North Star rules, standing in its place with all the other stars revolving around it and paying court to it. “Like the North Star, Suzuki exerted a powerful attraction, causing people to gather around him.

On February 26, 1921, Masaya Suzuki reorganized Sumitomo General Head Office, which was a private concern of Kichizaemon Sumitomo (the head of the Sumitomo family), into Sumitomo Goshi Kaisha (limited partnership) with capital of 150 million yen. Mitsui and Mitsubishi had already established Mitsui Gomei Kaisha (general partnership) and Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha (limited partnership). Tadayoshi Obata who was involved in the reorganization wrote in his memoirs: “Neither Director-General Suzuki nor anyone else told us to use Mitsui or Mitsubishi as a model.” In fact, at other zaibatsu, managers (employees) were not permitted to be partners. At Sumitomo Goshi Kaisha, as well as the owner, managers were also partners. Specifically, Kichizaemon Sumitomo (the head of the Sumitomo family) and four cadet families contributed property (148 million yen and 2 million yen, respectively) while General-Director Masaya Suzuki and Directors Kinkichi Nakada and Kankichi Yukawa were working partners managing the business. Moreover, whereas the head of the Sumitomo family and the managers (Suzuki, Nakada, and Yukawa) were equal partners with unlimited liability, the heads of the cadet families were partners with limited liability having no voice in management.

In a document titled “Appreciation of a wise man,” composed following Suzuki’s death, Jun Kawada expressed his thoughts and feelings about Suzuki: “‘People make the enterprise’ was a favorite maxim of Director-General Suzuki. For him, fostering Sumitomo employees was not an obligation but a delight. He was a man convinced that preparing capable successors and laying the foundation of the business were equally indispensable tasks.”

Almost a century after Masaya Suzuki passed away, his grave in his hometown of Takanabe, Miyazaki Prefecture, continues to be maintained by members of the Kyusenkai (association of Sumitomo Group companies in Miyazaki Prefecture and neighboring prefectures) in honor of his virtuous life.