[Business & Industry], Mitsu Bishi Mail Steam Ship

[Business & Industry]
Mitsu Bishi Mail Steam Ship Company Broadside
(Japan), 1877. 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.4 cm). Printed timetable, listing service between Yokohama and Shanghai from July-December, 1877, depicting one of the earliest recorded examples of Mitsubishi's iconic three-diamond logo. Creasing from old folds, cellotape reinforcements on recto and verso. A rare broadside relating to the origins of the Mitsubishi Corporation, and the birth of modern industrial Japan.
The Mitsubishi Steamship Company operated Japan's first passenger line service, as well as its first overseas shipping route, between Yokohama and Shanghai, beginning on February 3, 1875. Founded in 1870 by Iwasaki Yataro as the Tsukumo Shokai shipping firm, it grew at an incredible pace, changing names in 1872 to Mitsukawa Shokai, and in 1874 to Mitsubishi Shokai. In 1885 it merged with Kyodo Unyu Kaisha, becoming Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan Mail Steamship Company), as it is known today. Mitsubishi's rapid growth reflected its astute business practices, its diversification into related fields of production including coal mining, warehousing, shipbuilding, insurance, and banking, as well its symbiotic relationship with the Meiji government. By 1880 Mitsubishi was the largest shipping company based in East Asia, and by the turn of the century it operated one of the largest shipping lines in the world. This rare broadside reflects an important moment in the company's history, depicting the service schedule of its flagship route, as it was attaining regional dominance, and helping solidify Japan's economic revolution in the second half of the 19th-century.