Ōkura Kihachirō

Ōkura Kihachirō was a Japanese businessman who founded the Ōkura zaibatsu, an industrial and financial group that grew from his trading enterprise. After beginning in retail and arms dealing, he established Ōkura-gumi Shōkai in 1873 and expanded into military supply, overseas investment, construction, and hospitality, including the Imperial Hotel. He also founded the Ōkura Commercial School in 1900, the institutional predecessor of today’s Tokyo University of Economics.