Kinsuke Ito

Image: Collection of the Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies

The newspaper business that published "Jiji Shinpo" was one of the important projects undertaken by Yukichi Fukuzawa. Kinsuke Ito, the subject of this article, studied at Keio University and played a major role in an era of "Jiji Shinpo." After working at the Bank of Japan, he eventually acquired a newspaper company himself and managed the newspaper business.

Kinsuke Ito was born on August 4, 1857, as the youngest child (second son) of Ichiemon Ito, a samurai of the Hagi Domain. Ichiemon was said to be a man of great learning who taught at the domain school, Meirinkan, but he died at the age of 40 the year after Kinsuke's birth. Kinsuke's childhood name was Yagoro. He was robust and active, yet he was a child who never quarreled with others and handled things with care. At the age of 15, he was adopted into the Hayashi family of the same domain as a son-in-law and began using the surname Hayashi, and eventually, a son, Ryutaro, was born.

Kinsuke began studying at the domain school Meirinkan, and after moving to Tokyo to enter Kogyokusha, he entered Keio University in June 1877. According to his classmates at the Juku, he was skilled with the abacus and his mathematics grades were perfect. At that time, debating within Keio was very active. He stood out for his skillful eloquence at the Yukosha, a society he formed with Tsuyoshi Inukai, Yasukata Murai, and others.

Around this time, his relationship with his adoptive father in the Hayashi family deteriorated, leading to the dissolution of the adoption, and he returned to the surname Ito. After graduating in April 1879, he wrote for the "Shizuoka Shimbun" and Nagasaki's "Chinzei Nippo," and in 1885, he became a reporter for "Jiji Shinpo." After President Hikojiro Nakamigawa, who was the core of the paper, became the president of Sanyo Railway, Ito took charge of the editing of "Jiji Shinpo."

In 1886, Ito, along with Eizo Akagawa, was sentenced to eight months of minor imprisonment and a fine of 30 yen for violating the Newspaper Ordinance by sending 300 copies of a "Report" to newspapers and banks without permission ("Tokyo Asahi"). Given the length of the sentence, it is suspected that the content was deemed a threat to public order, rather than just a lack of permission (which carried a maximum of six months). Upon his release in May of the following year, Fukuzawa provided money for Ito and asked Teikyu Okamoto to assist him. Exhausted by prison life, Ito tried hard to study, but remained in a weakened state for some time, and Fukuzawa worried about his physical and mental health.

In July of the same year, after observing his condition, Fukuzawa entrusted Ito with the role of "Editor-in-Chief" of "Jiji Shinpo" following Nakamigawa's departure. Later, Fukuzawa appointed Minoru Sakata to accounting and decided to leave the management of the Jiji Shinpo-sha to Ito and Sakata, arranging for them to be able to make an independent living. In fact, when land adjacent to Kojunsha went on sale, he moved to purchase it for company housing and have Ito live there.

In October, young reporters Mikiaki Ishikawa and Osamu Watanabe began to voice objections to Ito within the company. The dissatisfaction of the youth lay in the fact that power was concentrated in editing, and they, as reporters, felt their "labor was without reward." At that time, the youth "spoke unsettling words," and a turbulent atmosphere drifted through the office. Fukuzawa, the de facto owner, harshly criticized the two, saying "Both Watanabe and Ishikawa are poor writers," and stood by Ito, who was engaged in management, saying "Useless boys are not needed." The conflict was resolved through Fukuzawa's persuasion ("Collected Letters of Yukichi Fukuzawa," Vol. 6).

In Fukuzawa's estimation, Ito was not only older but also wise, handled matters briskly, and was diligent in his studies. At that time, Fukuzawa, who checked every corner of the articles, would get furious if he found a mistake, but Ito, as the Editor-in-Chief, would take it all on himself, listening in silence without making any excuses, which further deepened Fukuzawa's trust. It is said that Ito always handled the furigana for the editorials written by Fukuzawa, as he understood the unique Fukuzawa style.

During his time at Jiji Shinpo, Ito's daily routine involved arriving at the office around 11:00 AM, reading at Kojunsha, and when the manuscripts were ready in the evening, a servant would go to call him. Upon his return, he would work on editing until around midnight. After Sakata transferred to become the head of the Yochisha, Ito also took charge of accounting. When Japan's first rotary printing press was introduced, he led the workers based on his own research and completed everything from assembly to installation. Furthermore, as a reporter, his writing rarely featured long, academic-style essays; he excelled at sharp satire in short commentaries.

Perhaps because he was from Choshu, he had a network with Hirobumi Ito, and he acted not only as a reporter obtaining important information but also as a de facto staff officer. However, Ito's strength of character was such that this did not soften his criticism of the domain cliques. In reporting on the First Sino-Japanese War, he used his connections to land scoops, contributing to an increase in circulation. Fukuzawa also valued Ito's work, granting him an extraordinary bonus of 1,000 yen at the end of 1894, and his annual salary jumped to 3,000 yen the following year.

Later, Ito transitioned from being a journalist to the business world. This happened because Yanosuke Iwasaki, who was approached to become the Governor of the Bank of Japan, consulted Fukuzawa and hesitated because he had no acquaintances at the Bank of Japan. Fukuzawa encouraged him to accept by offering to have Ito accompany him.

In December 1896, Ito was appointed as Deputy Manager of the Bank of Japan. His annual salary was 1,500 yen. He served as the Issuing Department Officer and the Secretary Department Officer, and was heavily relied upon as a right-hand man by Governors Iwasaki and Tatsuo Yamamoto, frequently entering the executive offices. Ito was knowledgeable and a "Navy expert," and the Bank of Japan's luncheons were dominated by Ito's talks on the Navy (Jiro Yamana, "Secret Stories of Great Men"). Additionally, from February to October 1898, he was ordered to inspect banking operations in Western countries, but it seems he also researched the newspaper business.

Later, when Shigeyoshi Matsuo from the Ministry of Finance became Governor, Ito's de facto treatment as an executive ended, and the opportunities for him to demonstrate his abilities gradually disappeared. Ultimately, in May 1906, he retired from the Bank of Japan for health reasons. When former Governor Yamamoto, who had been consulted beforehand, tried to persuade him to stay because a path to a future executive position was visible, Ito stated clearly: "Joining the Bank of Japan was a temporary stop from the beginning; my ambition lies in managing a newspaper company. I can get either 'Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun' or 'Nippon,' or both depending on negotiations, but 'Tokyo Nichi Nichi' costs too much, so I will take over 'Nippon'." As expected, joining the Bank of Japan had been at Fukuzawa's request and was not his true intention.

Subsequently, he acquired the "Nippon" newspaper company, which had been founded by Katsunan Kuga, and embarked on its management. The source of funds for the acquisition is said to have been not only his savings but also 80,000 yen in profits from a mine he had invested in with a friend. In a public notice published in various papers, Ito expressed his aspirations, saying, "I aim to follow the influential newspapers of Europe and America." Leveraging his experience in managing the Jiji Shinpo-sha, he declared an independent path without bringing in other capital, stating, "I shall only proceed according to my own convictions."

However, the employees revolted against the new President Ito's populist reforms, which differed from the previous high-toned content specialized in politics and literature, and eventually clashed. In the end, 22 reporters, led by Editor-in-Chief Setsurei Miyake, resigned. Upon their departure, the reporters harshly insulted Ito as "powerless, incompetent, and ignorant." They renamed the magazine "Nihonjin" to "Nippon oyobi Nihonjin" and claimed to be the legitimate successors of the "Nippon" newspaper.

Left behind, Ito showed no sign of giving up; he handled everything from editing the pages to arranging the typesetting, showing the spirit to publish the newspaper alone (Yasei Takano, "Remembering the Late Mr. Kinsuke Ito," "Diamond"). Later, he hired new talent, focused his writing on economic theory, and once criticized and forced the withdrawal of a bond issuance by the Katsura Cabinet.

Ito later managed the "Nippon" newspaper with the help of Keio-educated businessmen such as Eiji Asabuki and Shigeaki Ikeda, but the management was hit by a fire at the office caused by arson at the end of 1914, forcing the paper's discontinuation. Tatsuo Yamamoto analyzed that a major factor in the failure of Ito's newspaper business, which he thought would surely succeed, was that Ito's specialty, economic theory, was not favored by the readers of "Nippon," which had been a political newspaper.

In addition, as a manager, he served as a director for Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance and Nippon Flour Mills. Furthermore, at the request of Kenkichi Ishiyama, a Keio University alumni who founded the economic magazine "Diamond" after working as a reporter for the "Nippon" newspaper, Ito took on the role of supervisor for the magazine and continued to write articles three times a month for 14 years until a few months before his death.

Keio University began raising funds from 1889 with the aim of establishing a college. At that time, Hikojiro Nakamigawa and Ito, acting on Fukuzawa's wishes, worked behind the scenes to lobby the Imperial Household Ministry for a grant. Nakamigawa requested Yajiro Shinagawa, the Director-General of the Imperial Estate Bureau, and Ito persuaded Prime Minister Aritomo Yamagata. As a result, 1,000 yen was granted for "educating talent for many years and contributing no small merit." Fukuzawa not only sent letters of thanks to Yamagata and Shinagawa but also shared the news widely with his family, unable to hide his joy at the prospect of realizing the college establishment.

Subsequently, Ito also participated in the management of Keio University, serving as a councilor and trustee, and was involved in the decision to establish the School of Medicine.

On one occasion, Fukuzawa described Ito as a "heroic figure." Although he had a gentle personality, his heroic nature was said to be evident in his consistent criticism of domain cliques while being among the Choshu faction, and in the sharpness of his arguments when criticizing the Katsura Cabinet during the Movement to Protect Constitutional Government. Ito loved to talk so much that he never ran out of topics even if he talked all night, and at Kojunsha, he was nicknamed "Ito Koshaku" (Ito the Lecturer), a play on the word for storytelling and his name.

On the other hand, he was a man of feeling; he worried about the family of a worker who died in the fire at the "Nippon" newspaper office and managed to provide a condolence gift to the bereaved family in various ways. When he received a report that the family was pleased, he felt relieved but continued to care about them long afterward ("Collected Works of Kinsuke Ito," Vol. 2). Some also believe that the reason he did not seek success through Choshu connections and maintained his criticism of domain cliques was strongly influenced by the education of independence and self-respect he received from Fukuzawa.

The Fukuzawa that Ito saw was an "intelligent person." He also recalled that Fukuzawa had a common touch, listening to the long stories of country people until the end, and then rushing to his next appointment while grumbling about being "busy." And while Fukuzawa spoke of the value of money, he had no aim for profit, so Ito said, "The master is a Genroku-era samurai" ("Fuku-o Kunwa").