Toyotarō Yūki

Toyotarō Yūki (結城 豊太郎, Yūki Toyotarō, May 24, 1877 – August 1, 1951), was a central banker in the Empire of Japan, serving as the 15th Governor of the Bank of Japan and twice as a cabinet minister.

Toyotarō Yūki
結城 豊太郎
Toyotarō Yūki
Governor of the Bank of Japan
In office 27 July 1937 – 18 March 1944
Preceded by	Shigeaki Ikeda
Succeeded by	Keizo Shibusawa
Minister of Finance
In office 2 February 1937 – 4 June 1937
Prime Minister	Senjūrō Hayashi
Preceded by	Eiichi Baba
Succeeded by	Okinori Kaya
Minister of Colonial Affiars
In office 2 February 1937 – 4 June 1937
Prime Minister	Senjūrō Hayashi
Preceded by	Hidejirō Nagata
Succeeded by	Sonyu Ōtani
Personal details
Born	May 24, 1877 Nan'yō, Yamagata, Yamagata, Japan
Died	August 1, 1951 (aged 74)
Nationality	Japan
Alma mater	Tokyo Imperial University

Biography

Yūki was born in the onsen resort of Akayu in what is now part of Nan'yō, Yamagata Prefecture,[1] where his father was a sake brewer. After graduating from Tokyo Imperial University with a degree in political science, he obtained a position at the Bank of Japan from January 1904. Yūki was promoted rapidly, serving as auditor in the bank's New York City branch, branch manager in Kyoto, Corporate Secretary, and branch manager in Osaka. In 1918, at the recommendation of Junnosuke Inoue, Yūki was appointed to the Board of Directors, while still maintaining his post as Osaka branch manager. However, following the assassination of Yasuda Zenjirō, Yūki left the Bank of Japan to join the Board of Directors for the Yasuda zaibatsu in November 1921, and was appointed Managing Director of Yasuda Bank the same year.

As head of Yasuda Bank, Yūki was a member of a committee which drafted "Definite Policies for the Improvement of the Ordinary Banking System in Our Country in 1926.[2] The report identified a range of significant issues:

Ordinary banks in our country have frequently conducted their business badly. There has been excessive competition among too many small banks with slender means; bankers have been ignorant of the need for reserves to back deposit withdrawals and generally ill-informed about the working of deposit banking; there has been over enthusiastic lending of bank resources in either particular or long-term outlets against securities of real estates in favour of related businesses; there has been serious negligence in establishing a thorough audit system both inside and outside the banks.[2]

The need to address the problems identified in this proposal generally acknowledged. The report was the genesis of a process which led to the Bank Act of 1927.[3]

In March 1929, Yūki left for a tour of Europe. On his return, he established a committee to find was for the Yasuda zaibatsu to weather the Great Depression. From September 1930, Yūki was head of the Industrial Bank of Japan.[4] Yūki was subsequently elected head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in January 1937. In February 1937, he was appointed Minister of Finance in the Hayashi administration, serving to June 1937.[5] The concurrently also held the portfolio of Minister of Colonial Affairs for the same period. From May 1937, Yūki was also appointed to a seat in the Upper House of the Diet of Japan.

During the 1st Konoe administration, July 27, 1937 on Yūki returned to the Bank of Japan as governor, replacing Shigeaki Ikeda. He held the post until March 18, 1944.[6] During Yūki's tenure, the bank was reorganized in 1942.[7] However, Yūki was removed from his office by the Finance Minister with the support of the Tōjō cabinet in 1944. Yuki had opposed giving the Munitions Minister the authority to approve loans to munitions companies without consultation with the bank, and Tōjō was both Prime Minister and Munitions Minister at the time[8] Following World War II, Yūki retired from public life, and moved to Mie Prefecture, where he became the chief kannushi of the Yuki Jinja Shinto shrine. He died in 1951, and his grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.[9]

In 1995, the town of Akayu opened a memorial museum in his honor.[10]

References

• Fuji Ginkō. (1967). Banking in modern Japan. Tokyo: Fuji Bank, Research Division. OCLC 1050668
• Henning, C. Randall. (1994). Currencies and Politics in the United States, Germany, and Japan. Washington, DC : Institute for International Economics. ISBN 9780881321272; OCLC 28890661
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Tamaki, Norio. (1995). Japanese banking: a History, 1859–1959. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521496766; OCLC 231677071

Notes

1. Bank of Japan, 15th Governor
2. Tamaki, Norio. (1995). Japanese banking: a History, 1859-1959, p. 156, p. 156, at Google Books
3. Tamaki, p. 157, p. 157, at Google Books
4. Berger, Gordon M. (1988). "Politics and Mobilization in Japan, 1931-1945," in The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 6, p. 123., p. 123, at Google Books
5. Fuji Ginkō. (1967). Banking in modern Japan, p. 125.
6. BOJ, List of Governors.
7. Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric et al. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 708., p. 708, at Google Books
8. Henning, C. Randall. (1994). Currencies and Politics in the United States, Germany, and Japan, p. 73 n28, p. 73, at Google Books, citing Jerome Cohen, Japan's Economy in War and Reconstruction, p. 92.
9. photo of Yuki’s grave
10. Official web site of Toyotaro Yuki Museum Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Toyotarō Yūki in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW