Gappon — Capital Brought Together

The First National Bank opened on 20 July 1873. Despite the name, it was not a government bank. «National bank» had been translated straight from the American term, so private banks ended up calling themselves national — a twist from the age of translation that stayed on as a name. Shibusawa Eiichi began with this bank and went on to be involved with an enormous number of companies. «About five hundred» is the usual figure, but the 481 counted by the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce include nominal involvements such as giving a congratulatory address or writing the title page of a company history; around 470 is the sounder number for real involvement. His word gappon — bringing capital and people together to found enterprises for the public good — is certainly his own, but where he took it from is unknown even to the foundation that bears his name. Turning it into an «-ism» was the work of later generations. The three-way good, use-first-pay-later, and gappon-ism alike: the ideas of Japanese commerce were given their names afterwards.