Sanji Muto

Image: Sanji Muto (Provided by Kokumin Kaikan)

Sanji Muto entered the political world from the standpoint of a businessman, advocating for "political renewal" because he could not bear to see the corruption and degradation of party politics. However, real-world politics was a cycle of power struggles that ignored the people, far removed from the democracy Muto idealized. Feeling that his activities as a member of the Diet were powerless to effect political reform, he decided to retire from politics in January 1932. Already 64 years old, Muto thought, "I want to spend the rest of my life quietly at home."

While Muto was in Tokyo, his seniors from Keio University—Wasaku Natori, Ikunoshin Kadono, and Momosuke Fukuzawa—visited him. They brought up the matter of the Jiji Shimpo newspaper, whose management was failing and whose reconstruction seemed uncertain. "It would be a disservice to Yukichi Fukuzawa to let his legacy disappear. Won't you please take it over, Muto?" Muto was not only a first-rate manager of his time but also had experience in the newspaper industry and was a skilled writer. Above all, he had a heart that loved justice and hated evil. It was the consensus of the public that if anyone could revive the Jiji Shimpo, it was Muto. When the name of his revered Yukichi Fukuzawa was invoked, Muto could not refuse.

Muto was born on March 1, 1867. His father was Kunisaburo Sakuma and his mother was Tane. The Sakuma family was well known for generations as wealthy farmers and village headmen in Hechi Village, Mino Province (now Kaizu City, Gifu Prefecture).

It was a natural progression for his father, Kunisaburo, an avid reader, to pick up Yukichi Fukuzawa's "Things Western (Seiyō Jijō)," which was highly acclaimed at the time. Hearing from his father that "Yukichi Fukuzawa's Juku has an Enzetsukan (Public Speaking Hall) where one can practice public speaking," Muto asked his father for permission to go to Tokyo and enroll in Fukuzawa's Juku.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, Muto enrolled in Wada Juku (later the Yochisha Elementary School), which was for younger students within Keio University. Public speaking sessions were also held at Wada Juku, and Yukichi Fukuzawa would attend, telling the students things like, "Keep your body healthy and build a fine physique to be fit for activity," and "Be kind and polite in your words and attitude." Hearing these words directly from Yukichi Fukuzawa moved Muto and left a deep impression on his heart.

Muto soon moved from Wada Juku to the main Juku, beginning life in a dormitory called Dojoryo. Muto said, "I naturally came into contact with the great personality of Yukichi Fukuzawa and went out into the world under his influence," pointing out that this was significantly different from later students who only encountered Fukuzawa through the written word.

After graduating from the Juku in 1884, Muto traveled to San Francisco and followed the path of a struggling "schoolboy" student, working while attending school. This included day labor such as wiping hotel windows and cleaning private homes. What Muto felt while working in American homes was that the attitude toward servants was kind, refined, and the language used was polite. This experience of being in a position of service himself led to his attitude toward employees when he later managed companies. Subsequently, Muto attended Pacific University while working as a server for boarders' meals.

Returning to Japan after three years, Muto had the idea to start a newspaper advertising agency and a magazine production business. It was Japan's first advertising agency, operated out of a rented house in Ginza. The magazine, titled "Hakubun Zasshi," consisted of clippings from old newspapers and magazines with a few original manuscripts added. After several jobs, Muto met with Hikojiro Nakamigawa, Fukuzawa's nephew who was leading the reform of Mitsui. His abilities were recognized, and he joined Mitsui Bank in January 1893. Six months later, he was transferred to the Kobe branch, and in April of the following year, he was ordered to work at Kanegafuchi Spinning (Kanebo). At the time, the Japanese spinning industry was still in its infancy, and Kanebo was facing a recession and the threat of dissolution. It had come under the umbrella of Mitsui Bank, and Nakamigawa had been entrusted with its management restructuring.

At that time, Kanebo had its first factory in Sumida, Tokyo, but it planned to build a branch factory in Kobe City for exports to Qing China. Muto was involved from the construction phase as the manager of the Hyogo factory. Eiji Asabuki, who was the managing director under President Nakamigawa at Kanebo, frequently visited the Kansai region and took Muto with him to greet other spinning companies in the area. Asabuki repeatedly advised Muto, "The Hyogo factory must be as modest as possible. Keep the office simple." Muto learned the basics of management and the importance of valuing employees from Nakamigawa and Asabuki, who could be considered his senior disciples under Yukichi Fukuzawa.

Muto reportedly worked 365 days a year without a single day off for the first four or five years. From 8:00 a.m. until after 9:00 p.m., wearing a suit with a torn seat sewn like a rag and an engineer's cap, he would enter the engine room or anywhere else. Consequently, his hat was covered in oil. In that attire, he ran between the office and the factory. Because Muto, the manager, worked harder than anyone else, his subordinates also worked without Sundays or holidays.

From the trial and error and various failures experienced in the early days of the Hyogo factory, Muto realized that the secret to factory management was to spare no expense on repairs to ensure perfect maintenance and improvement of machinery, and to treat employees well and provide them with education so they would naturally want to work. Declaring that "treating workers well is the best investment," Muto practiced a "paternalistic" management style. This later became the foundation for Muto's measures to promote the welfare of workers, such as creating a Kyosai Kumiai (Mutual Aid Association) system ahead of other companies and establishing vocational schools and sanatoriums. Furthermore, he published the magazine "Kanebo no Kiteki" (The Kanebo Whistle) for employees and "Joshi no Tomo" (Friend of Women) for female workers to keep them widely informed about the company. Muto summarized that this management method at Kanebo was based on a family system, aiming for kindness toward employees as members of a single family.

Advancing to manager and then president of Kanegafuchi Spinning Co., Ltd., Muto never neglected his research on spinning and never compromised on quality improvement. Thus, the management style of Kanebo—which grew into a major corporation boasting some of Japan's highest sales and total assets—became a model for subsequent Japanese companies, characterized by "paternalism" and "familialism" in its treatment of employees.

Behind the spinning industry that led Japan's exports from the Meiji era to the early Showa era, there is also the fact that it was achieved by using female workers from poor rural villages at extremely low wages. Even so, while Muto strictly demanded labor from his workers, he absolutely would not tolerate the inhumane treatment, such as kicking or trampling on female workers, that was seen in some other spinning factories. Although some critics called Muto's actions hypocritical, Muto himself was dead serious about his paternalism.

A person who was in charge of workers at the time recalled Muto as follows. While Muto was in a car heading to the factory, he saw a girl walking barefoot, holding a pair of geta with a broken strap. Muto stopped the car, saying "Wait a moment," and told her, "You're going to the spinning mill, aren't you? Get in this." He told the driver to take the girl to the mill, while he himself got out of the car and walked to work with his lunch box under his arm. It is said that such acts by Muto were too numerous to mention throughout his life.

In 1919, Muto participated as the employer representative in the first International Labour Conference held in Washington, D.C. At this meeting, he distributed English booklets introducing Kanebo's worker welfare system. This contributed to improving the international status of Japan, which was then considered a developing nation.

In 1923, Muto founded the Jitsugyo Doshikai (later the Kokumin Doshikai) for the purpose of political education and political reform. The following year, Muto ran for and was elected to the House of Representatives, stating his convictions: "Our country's politics has now reached the height of corruption and degradation, and if things continue as they are, (omitted) the nation is destined to decline. At this time, it is more urgent than anything else for the people to rise up, purge this corruption, and return to pure politics." Muto continued his activities as a member of the Diet while remaining president of Kanebo for several years, but resigned from that post in 1930.

Returning to the beginning of the story: In April 1932, Muto took over the reconstruction of the Jiji Shimpo. He became an advisor to the company and, as the de facto president, poured his heart and soul into getting the management on track. At the same time, he personally wrote columns such as "Omoigusa" and "Getsuyo Rondan." As a newspaperman, he also focused on political education for the public. Whenever Muto started something on his own initiative, he would always say, "I will bear the cost." Employees called this "personal burden." In this way, the Jiji Shimpo drastically reduced its annual deficit, to the point where Muto could say, "In 1934, the 100th anniversary of Yukichi Fukuzawa's birth, we will overcome the deficit and report it before the teacher's grave."

Muto began a series titled "Exposing the Bancho-kai" in order to "seal the tendency of shameful collusion between some political parties and the business world, which he considered disgusting from the standpoint of establishing good democratic politics" (Shuji Aritake). The articles written in the series eventually developed into a trial involving major politicians, bureaucrats, and business figures known as the Teijin Incident, but that was after Muto's death.

While "Exposing the Bancho-kai" caused a sensation, whispers of danger surrounding Muto also began to circulate.

On the morning of March 9, 1934, Muto left his villa as usual and was walking toward Kita-Kamakura Station to go to the Jiji Shimpo office when he was struck down by a bullet from a man who suddenly appeared. The culprit committed suicide on the spot. Muto was rushed to the hospital and passed away the following evening, surrounded by his family. The Kamakura Police summoned people related to the Bancho-kai and investigated their connection to the incident, but they ended the investigation early, concluding it was a crime motivated by a personal grudge.

On March 16, a main funeral was held at the Kokumin Kaikan in Osaka, and a farewell ceremony was also held at the Jiji Shimpo office in Tokyo. The Kokumin Kaikan was a building Muto had opened in June 1933 as a hall for political education, investing his private funds and modeling it after Yukichi Fukuzawa's Enzetsukan (Public Speaking Hall). For Muto, who had been based in Tokyo since taking over the Jiji Shimpo, the day of the main funeral was his second visit to the hall since the opening ceremony—this time in silence. The Kokumin Kaikan has continued to hold public speaking events and lectures even after Muto's death, reaching a total of over 1,000 times today, and Muto's grandson, Haruta, currently serves as the chairman.

At Kanebo, which Muto had left, a labor dispute occurred three months later and a labor union was formed. The Jiji Shimpo, having lost Muto, saw its management deteriorate and ceased publication in 1936. Looking at Muto as a manager, one cannot help but feel that Muto's personality—described as "the person who manifested the spirit of Yukichi Fukuzawa" and where he and the organization became one—constituted an indispensable element of management.