ABSTRACT
Fukuzawa was of course not a businessman in the usual sense though he had his hand in the foundation of the Maruzen Com pany (until today the leading importer of foreign books). He was rather, as educator and writer of books and pamphlets, the most successful advocate of a modern business mentality. Among his publications the most popular one, the Exhortations for Learning, had between 1872 and 1876 reached seventeen editions with 3.5 million copies sold. In this as well as other popular writings Fukuzawa spread the ideas of Benjamin Franklin with some addi tional theories from Wayland's Moral Science and Chambers' Moral Class-book, In his school Keio Gijuku, he taught his stu dents a rational business mentality and exhorted them to enter business rather than government employment. His insistence on the motive of profit maximisation as not only a reasonable but as a necessary precondition for the progress of Japan was nothing short of revolutionary. He coined many catch phrases to inculcate a spirit of self-reliance and rational behaviour such as 'only if each individual becomes independent can the nation become independent' through which he criticised the over-dependence on government shown by the seishō. From Fukuzawa's Keio Gijuku graduated many students who soon became leaders of modern business, employed mainly by the two zaibatsu, the Mitsui and Mitsubishi. But in a sense Fukuzawa's emphasis on individualism ran counter to the traditional values and did not wholly succeed, though he helped to break down old prejudices against business. In the positive sense of establishing a viable business image, Shibusawa was by far the more influential man.
