Yasujiro Tsutsumi was a Japanese entrepreneur, politician, and business tycoon who founded a dynasty which became the wealthiest, most influential family of XX century in Japan.
Background
Yasujiro Tsutsumi was born on March 7, 1889 in the rural farming village of Yagisho, Shiga Prefecture. The Tsutsumi family were held in great respect and regard, serving as village elders and headmen. Yasujirō's father, Yujiro, died of typhoid fever in 1893, when Yasujiro was four, also leaving his wife, Miwo, and a daughter, Fusako, who had been born in 1891. Following his father's premature death, Yasujiro's mother left to return to her family, never to be heard from again, an event that haunted Yasujiro to the end of his days. After his mother's separation, both Yasujiro and his sister were raised by their paternal grandfather Kiyozaemon.
Education
In 1913, Yasujiro Tsutsumi graduated from Waseda University.
When studying at university, Yasujiro invested in rough land and businesses. In 1917, he purchased 650 acres of land from a village near the fashionable mountain resort of Karuizawa, and built several vacation houses and cottages. With this, he established a company, Hakone Resorts Ltd. In 1918, Yasujiro Tsutsumi founded the Kokudo Keikaku land-management company.
Yasujiro Tsutsumi also entered politics (after graduating from the university he joined the Minseito Party). He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1924 and reelected 12 times after that. Yasujiro laid the basis of his fortune in the years immediately following World War II, when he was able to buy large tracts of land in Tokyo and other important locations at bargain prices from ruined aristocrats and others who had been impoverished by the war.
He then began building suburban railways, resorts, hotels, department stores, and golf courses. His various business concerns were unified under the Seibu Railway Co., Ltd. His political career climaxed when he served as speaker of the House of Representatives in 1953-1954.
Yasujiro suffered a case of cerebral anemia on 23 April 1964, and died peacefully at home on 26 April 1964, of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 75. He was cremated and his ashes buried in a grand tomb at Kamakura. At his death in 1964 he was one of the wealthiest men in Japan.
Connections
Yasujiro had three wives and two mistresses by which he had seven acknowledged children, three of whom were legitimate. By all accounts, however, he had many more unacknowledged children by other mistresses and prostitutes, estimates of the number ranging from 50-100.
Spouse:
Aoyama Misao
Son:
Seiji Tsutsumi
After Yasujiro's death, he received the retail portion of Tsutsumi's empire.
