SUMITOMO GROUP

loose consortium of independent Japanese companies. These companies were created out of the giant, family-owned Sumitomo business combine, or zaibatsu (q.v.), that was broken up after World War II. The zaibatsu, in turn, grew out of the House of Sumitomo (Sumitomo-ke), one of the major Japanese merchant houses of the Tokugawa period (16031867). The Sumitomo enterprise originated in a medicine and book shop set up in Kyoto in 1630 by Sumitomo Masatomo. His brother-in-law, Soga Riemon, had set up a small copper refinery that used a European-derived procedure for extracting the gold and silver content of copper ores. Soga's oldest son, Tomomochi, who became Sumitomo's son-in-law, established a copper refinery in Osaka that absorbed both families' business operations and became the centre of the Japanese copper industry. In 169091 the company discovered and began working a huge copper find on the island of Shikoku; this mine became the basis of much of Sumitomo's future enterprises. The House of Sumitomo established a close relationship with the Tokugawa shogunate and was able to export large quantities of copper despite the general ban on overseas trade. The link to the shogunate was at first detrimental to Sumitomo in the early Meiji period (18681912), but the company was quickly able to win the support of the new government. The company began to diversify into such interests as copper products and steelmaking and later into chemicals and machinery. A family-controlled holding company, Sumitomo, Ltd. (Sumitomo Goshi Kaisha), was organized in 1921 to direct the emerging combine. In the 1930s Sumitomo became one of the largest zaibatsu in Japan, and by the end of World War II it controlled some 135 companies. With the postwar dissolution of the holding company by the U.S. occupation authorities, the former subsidiaries became independent companies. In the 1950s these companies began to reassociate. The new grouping that emerged was significantly different from the old zaibatsu in that there was no central, family-controlled holding company. It was characterized instead by informal policy coordination between the various company presidents and by a degree of financial interdependency among the companies. The Sumitomo group is composed of several dozen firms. All of the major firms are large multinational corporations based in Tokyo or Osaka. Sumitomo Bank, Ltd. (Sumitomo Ginko), was established in 1895 and functioned as the main financial instrument of the Sumitomo zaibatsu. After World War II the bank became the central coordinating body of the companies in the Sumitomo group. By the late 20th century the Sumitomo Bank was one of the chief commercial banks in Japan and one of the largest banks in the world. Sumitomo Chemical Company, Ltd. (Sumitomo Kagaku Kogyo KK), was established in 1925 and acquired its present name in 1934. Originally an operation to recover sulfur and to produce fertilizer from the by-products of copper mining, the company now manufactures a wide range of petrochemicals and other chemical products. Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (Sumitomo Denki Kogyo KK), and Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. (Sumitomo Jukikai Kogyo KK), are descended from subsidiaries of Sumitomo's copper interests. Sumitomo Electric, established in 1897, is a major producer of electric wire and cable. Sumitomo Heavy Industries, established as a separate company in 1934, is a major producer of steelmaking systems, mass-production machinery, other heavy machinery and equipment, and ships. Three large corporationsSumitomo Metal Mining Company, Ltd. (Sumitomo Kinzoku Kozan KK), Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. (Sumitomo Kinzoku Kogyo KK), and Sumitomo Light Metal Industries, Ltd. (Sumitomo Keikinzoku Kogyo KK)have emerged from the first mining and smelting operation established in the late 16th century. Sumitomo Metal Mining, the descendent of the original company, took its present form in 1950. In addition to its primary interests in the mining, smelting, and processing of nonferrous metals (excluding aluminum), its activities include the manufacture of electronics materials, chemicals, and construction materials. Sumitomo Metal Industries, established in 1935, was called Fuso Metal Industries during the postwar occupation. The company manufactures steel and a variety of steel products. Sumitomo Light Metal Industries, formerly a division of Sumitomo Metal Industries, was set up as an independent company in 1959. The company is engaged primarily in the manufacture of rolled aluminum. It also has an aluminum-smelting subsidiary and interests in bauxite mines.