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Electrifying Kyoto: Business and Politics in Light and Power, 1887–1915

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2017

CHENXIAO XIA
CHENXIAO XIA*
Affiliation:
Chenxiao Xia is a PhD student in the Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University, where he is writing a dissertation that compares the history of electricity industry in Germany and Japan. He was a research student at Heidelberg University in 2015-16 and is a visiting researcher at ETH Zurich in 2017. E-mail: xia.chenxiao.28n@kyoto-u.jp
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Abstract

The city of Kyoto witnessed Japan’s first public-owned electric utility and first hydraulic station for general supply, and was the first Japanese city in which every household became electrified. Behind these achievements, the interaction between the privately owned Kyoto Electric Light Company and the government-owned Kyoto Municipal Electric Works were important. By exploring their origin, collusion, competition, and demarcation between them from 1887 to 1915, this article addresses business–government relations in the history of Japanese electrification through the case of Kyoto.

Type
Articles
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 952 - 970
Copyright
Copyright © The Author 2017. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved. 

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References

Bibliography of Works Cited

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Tanabe, Sakuro. “The Lake Biwa Kioto Canal” [report]. London: Institute of Civil Engineers, 1894.Google Scholar
Tokyo shisei chousakai (Tokyo Municipal Research Bureau). Denkijigyo hoshokeiyaku [Report on franchise in electric utility]. Tokyo: Tokyoshi, 1928.Google Scholar
Uchida, Hoshimi. “The Transfer of Electrical Technologies from the United States and Europe to Japan, 1869–1914.” In International Technology Transfer: Europe, Japan and the USA, 1700–1914, edited by Jeremy, David, 219–241. London: Elgar, 1991.Google Scholar
Teishinsho denkikyoku (Ministry of Communication Electricity Bureau). Denkijigyoyoran [Statistical yearbook of Japanese electric utility industry], 1907–1919.Google Scholar
Kyoto furitsu sogo shiryokan (Kyoto Prefectural Library and Archive). Kyotofu tokei shiryo shu [Historical statistics of Kyoto Prefecture]. Kyoto: Kyotofu, 1969.Google Scholar
Kyoto shikai gijiroku [Kyoto municipal council minutes], 1893–1915, Kyoto shikai toshoshitsu (Kyoto City Council Library), Kyoto.Google Scholar
Ambrosius, Gerold. Der Staat als Unternehmer: öffentliche Wirtschaft und Kapitalismus seit dem 19. Jahrhundert [The state as entrepreneur: Public economy and capitalism from the 19th century]. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1984.Google Scholar
Denkigakkai (Institute of Electric Engineers of Japan). Denkigakkai gojunenshi [Fifty years of Institute of Electric Engineers of Japan]. Tokyo: Denkigakkai, 1938.Google Scholar
Denkikyokai (Japan Electric Association). Denkikyokai junenshi [Ten years of Japan Electric Association]. Tokyo: Denkikyokai, 1932.Google Scholar
Fischer, Wolfram, ed. Die Geschichte der Stromversorgung [History of electricity supply]. Frankfurt am Main: Verlage und Wirtschaftsgesschichte der Elektrizitätswerke, 1992.Google Scholar
Hagiwara, Hisatoshi. Osaka dento kabushikikaisha enkakushi [History of Osaka Electric Light Company]. Osaka: Hagiwara Hisatoshi, 1925.Google Scholar
Hausman, William J., Hertner, Peter, and Wilkins, Mira. Global Electrification: Multinational Enterprise and International Finance in the History of Light and Power, 1878–2007. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, Thomas Parke. Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society: 1880–1930. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Ito, Yukio. Kindai kyoto no kaizo: toshi keiei no kigen 1850–1918 [The modernization of Kyoto: The beginning of municipal management 1850–1918]. Kyoto: Mineraru shoho, 2006.Google Scholar
Keieishigakkai (Business History Society of Japan). Nihonkeieishi no kisochishiki [Primer in Japanese business history]. Tokyo: Yuhikaku, 2004.Google Scholar
Kikkawa, Takeo. Nihon denryokugyo hatten no dainamizumu [The development of Japanese electric industry]. Nagoya: Nagoya daigaku shuppankai, 2004.Google Scholar
Kikkawa, Takeo. Nihon denryokugyo hatten to Matsunaga Yasuzaemon [The development of Japanese electricity industry and Matsunaga Yasuzaemon]. Nagoya: Nagoya daigaku shuppankai, 1995.Google Scholar
Kogakkai (Engineer’s Association). Meiji kogyoshi denkihen [Industrial history in the Meiji period: Electricity]. Tokyo: kogakkai meijikogyoshi kankosho, 1931.Google Scholar
Kurihara, Toyo. Denryoku [Electricity]. Tokyo: kojunsha shuppankyoku, 1964.Google Scholar
Kwoka, John E. Power Structure: Ownership, Integration, and Competition in the U.S. Electricity Industry. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyoto denki (Kyoto Electric Company). Kyoto denki kabushikikaisha shimatsu [History of the Kyoto Electric Company]. Kyoto: Kyoto denki, 1912.Google Scholar
Kyoto dento (Kyoto Electric Light Company). Kyoto dento kabushikikaisha gojunenshi [Fifty years of Kyoto Electric Light Company]. Kyoto: Kyoto dento, 1939.Google Scholar
Kyotoshi (Kyoto City). Biwako sosui oyobi suiryoku riyo jigyo [The Biwa Lake Canal and the use of water power]. Kyoto: Kyotoshi, 1940.Google Scholar
Kyotoshi (Kyoto City). Shisei no keisei [History of Kyoto: Formation of municipal administration]. Kyoto: Kyotoshi, 2009.Google Scholar
Kyotoshi (Kyoto City). Zaisei no ayumi [History of Kyoto: Finance]. Kyoto: Kyotoshi, 2015.Google Scholar
Kyotoshi denkikyoku (Kyoto City Electricity Bureau). Kyoto shiei denkijigyo enkakushi [History of the Kyoto Municipal Electric Works]. Kyoto: Kyotoshi, 1933.Google Scholar
Miura, Toyoji. Ozawazensuke [Biography of Ozawa Zensuke]. Kyoto: Ozawa zensuke o koseki kinenkai, 1929.Google Scholar
Nakase, Akifumi. Nihon denki jigyou keieishi [Business history of Japanese electricity industry]. Tokyo: Nihon keizai hyoronsha, 2005.Google Scholar
Neufeld, John L. Selling Power: Economics, Policy, and Electric Utilities Before 1940. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nishikawa, Seijiro. Tanabesakuro hakase rokujunenshi [Biography of Dr. Tanabe Sakuro]. Kyoto: Yamada Shuzo, 1924.Google Scholar
Ozawa, Zensuke. Kaiko nanajugonen [Memoir of my seventy years]. Kyoto: Hinode shinbunsha, 1929.Google Scholar
Takenaka, Toru. Jimensu to meijinihon [Siemens and Meiji Japan]. Tokyo: Tokaidaigaku shuban kai, 1991.Google Scholar
Tokyo dento (Tokyo Electric Light Company). Tokyo dento kabushikikaisha kaigyo gojunenshi [Fifty years of Tokyo Electric Light Company]. Tokyo: Tokyo dento, 1936.Google Scholar
Toho denryokushi hensankai (Editorial Team for History of Toho Electric Power Company). Tohodenryokushi [History of Toho Electric Power Company]. Tokyo: Toho denryokushi kankokai, 1962.Google Scholar
Umemoto, Tetsuyo. Senzen nihonshihonshugi to denryoku [Electricity and capitalism in prewar Japan]. Tokyo: Hasokusha, 2000.Google Scholar
Watari, Tetsuro. Senzenki no wagakuni denryokudokusentai [Electricity monopolies in prewar Japan]. Kyoto: Akihiro shoho, 1996.Google Scholar
Yamaichi shoken (Yamaichi Securities Company). Yamaichi shokenshi [History of Yamaichi Securities Company]. Tokyo: Yamaichi shoken, 1958.Google Scholar
Zängl, Wolfgang. Deutschlands Strom: Die Politik der Elektrifizierung von 1866 bis heute [Germany’s electricity: The politics of electrification from 1866 to today]. Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 1989.Google Scholar
Kikkawa, Takeo. “Management and Regulation of the Electric Power Industry in Japan: 1923-1935.” Japanese Yearbook on Business History, no. 3 (1987): 82–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kikkawa, Takeo. “The Role of Matsunaga Yasuzaemon in the Development of Japan’s Electric Power Industry.” Social Science Japan Journal 9, no. 2 (2006): 203–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozakura, Yoshiakira. “Nihonshihonshugi kakuritsuki niokeru denryoku kokkaseisaku no keisei to toshidenkigyo tosei” [Japanese national electricity policy formation and municipal electricity regulation in the making period of state capitalism]. Keizaironso, no. 111 (1973): 61–83.Google Scholar
Kyotoshi sanjikai (Kyoto Municipal Council). Berurinshi gyosei no kimou to genzai [Report on public administration in the city of Berlin]. Kyoto: Higashieda shoho, 1901.Google Scholar
Kyotoshi sanjikai (Kyoto Municipal Council). The Lake Biwa Canal and Its Hydroelectric Power. Tokyo: Tsukiji Type Foundry, 1904.Google Scholar
Millward, Robert. “Business and the State.” In Oxford Handbook of Business History, edited by Jones, Geoffrey and Zeitlin, Jonathan, 529–557. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.Google Scholar
Nourinsho noumukyoku (Ministry of Agriculture Rural Affairs Bureau). Honpo Nosondenka nikansuru chosagaiyo [Summary report on rural electrification in Japan]. Tokyo: Nourinsho noumukyoku, 1933.Google Scholar
Tanabe, Sakuro. “Kyoto denki suiryoku koji” [The hydroelectric works in Kyoto]. Denkigakkai Zasshi [Institute of Electric Engineers of Japan Journal], no. 54 (1892): 206–213.Google Scholar
Tanabe, Sakuro. “The Lake Biwa Kioto Canal” [report]. London: Institute of Civil Engineers, 1894.Google Scholar
Tokyo shisei chousakai (Tokyo Municipal Research Bureau). Denkijigyo hoshokeiyaku [Report on franchise in electric utility]. Tokyo: Tokyoshi, 1928.Google Scholar
Uchida, Hoshimi. “The Transfer of Electrical Technologies from the United States and Europe to Japan, 1869–1914.” In International Technology Transfer: Europe, Japan and the USA, 1700–1914, edited by Jeremy, David, 219–241. London: Elgar, 1991.Google Scholar
Teishinsho denkikyoku (Ministry of Communication Electricity Bureau). Denkijigyoyoran [Statistical yearbook of Japanese electric utility industry], 1907–1919.Google Scholar
Kyoto furitsu sogo shiryokan (Kyoto Prefectural Library and Archive). Kyotofu tokei shiryo shu [Historical statistics of Kyoto Prefecture]. Kyoto: Kyotofu, 1969.Google Scholar
Kyoto shikai gijiroku [Kyoto municipal council minutes], 1893–1915, Kyoto shikai toshoshitsu (Kyoto City Council Library), Kyoto.Google Scholar