茶人筆記 vol.1 益田孝 Takashi Masuda (1848-1938)
茶道大師和雄心勃勃的實業家，益田孝（鈍翁）告誡人們不要被短期利益所誘惑。
益田孝是新商業形式的創始人— 綜合貿易公司，並在年僅 29 歲時成為三井物產的第一任總裁。益田孝還以創辦《中外物價新報》（現代《日本經濟新聞》的前身）而聞名。他是茶道大師，晚年號「鈍翁」，被稱為「千利休以來的大茶人」。益田孝是一位真正的偉人。他還是赫伯恩學校的學生（Hepburn Academy / 明治學院大學的前身）。
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放眼海外的年輕人
益田孝生於 1848 年，當時正值幕府末年。他的出生比佩里准將的黑船進入浦賀港還要早五年。他的出生地是佐渡島，原名德之信。按照傳統的年齡計算方法（新生兒出生時被視為一歲，每個人的年齡在元旦時增加一歲），他在佐渡島一直生活到八歲。1855 年，他的父親高之助（Takanosuke）作為幕府官員被調往函館開設幕府辦事處，他的家人也隨之遷往函館。
四年後，高之助被任命為外交事務專員公署的官員，與家人一起搬到了江戶。外務省相當於今天的外交部。德之信成為一名外語培訓學徒。
他在佐渡島、函館和江戶度過了一段時間。這意味著父子倆都在當時日本與其他國家聯繫最密切的地方工作。這可能是影響後來增田隆史性格的一個關鍵因素。
這位年輕人的目光始終緊盯著海外。
處理日本 20% 的對外貿易
1862 年，德之信通過了外語考試，成為幕府的一名翻譯，時年 14 歲。年僅 14 歲！隨後，他奉命到麻布善福寺的美國領事館工作，並在那裡結識了美國第一位駐日使節湯森-哈里斯（Townsend Harris）。次年，池田長発率領日本第二駐歐洲大使館訪問歐洲時，他作為池田長発的隨從，有機會近距離接觸歐洲現代文明。
就在那時，德之信開始上學，目的是進一步學習英語。這所學校就是赫本學院，它是明治學院的前身，於 1863 年開學。
明治維新後，益田孝在橫濱的一家商行工作，後來結識了井上馨，並應他的請求加入了大藏省。然而，井上很快辭職，並成立了一家貿易公司 Senshu Gaisha，他任命增田為副社長。五年後，即 1876 年，Senshu Gaisha更名為三井物產株式會社，益田孝被任命為首任社長。當時他還只有 29 歲。
也是在這個時候，他創辦了《中外物價新報》，即《日本經濟新聞》的前身。他這樣做的目的是讓日本內陸地區的商人瞭解國內外的價格波動。這份報紙後來改名為《中外商業日報》，戰後又改名為《日本經濟新聞》，發行量迅速增加。
1888 年，益田孝在三池炭鉱被工業部礦務局出售時成功收購了該煤礦，並成立了三池炭鉱公司。該公司後來更名為三井礦業公司，生產的煤炭被運往上海、香港和新加坡等城市，成為三井物產急速發展的推動力。
三井物產經營的產品種類多達 300 種，包括煤炭、大米、原棉和生絲等當時日本的主要出口產品。據說，到 20 世紀第二個十年，三井物產所處理的貨物約佔日本貿易總值的 20%。這是益田孝作為實業家的巔峰時期。
不斷追求持久繁榮的人
益田孝自己說過："不要受短期利益的誘惑，要懷抱遠大的理想，追求持久的繁榮"。
這聽起來也許令人驚訝，因為益田孝的職業生涯似乎完全由追求短期利益構成。然而，事實並非如此。讓人印象深刻的是，益田孝不僅是一流的商人，還是一位出色的茶道實踐者和古董的狂熱收藏家。這些肯定不是他在成為成功的實業家後打發晚年生活的興趣愛好，而是他即使在商業第一線發揮積極作用時也樂此不疲的活動。
鈍翁的旧藏
井戸茶碗 銘 翁
MOA 美術館
高さ：9.0cm口径：14.5cm高台径：5.5cm
茶碗是高麗茶碗中的第一種。 雖然是作為雜器燒制的，但卻被日本茶藝師所接受，並在茶道世界中廣泛使用。 根據大小、形狀和釉色等，大致可分為大井戸・小井戸・青井戸・小貫入(かんにゅう)等。此茶碗屬於大井戸，用含鐵量較高的粗泥燒制，呈枇杷色，表面有明顯的輪碾紋理，氣勢雄偉，碗底深而大。
器物內表面凸起於外口，中央有一圈輪碾痕跡。 器內外的釉面相當薄，藍地釉上有零星的小鹿斑，呈現出孤寂的釉景。 高台上的梅花皮(かいらぎ)沒有出現，但腰部下部周圍有目跡(めあと)，顯示出底座的外觀和變化。 此大井戸的釉面極薄，據說銘文是以神態淒涼的老人為來源，可以說是一件精緻典雅的茶碗。 該茶碗是益田鈍翁遺愛品，蓋表金泥字，內箱右「翁」、左「井戸」。『大正名器鑑』所載。
青井戸茶碗『春日野』
湯木美術館蔵
高さ：7.1cm口径：14.1cm高台径：5.1cm
瀬戸黒茶碗『小原木』｜瀬戸黒
所蔵：不審庵蔵
高さ：8.8cm 口径：10.2cm 高台径：5.0cm
志野茶碗『広沢』｜志野茶碗
所蔵：湯木美術館蔵
高さ：7.9cm 口径：12.3cm 高台径：6.4cm
The tea master and ambitious industrialist who cautioned against being tempted by short term gains.
Takashi Masuda established a new form of business—the general trading company—and became Mitsui & Co.’s first president at the tender age of 29. Masuda is also renowned as the person who founded the Chugai Bukka Shimpo, the predecessor of the modern-day Nihon Keizai Shimbun. He became a master of tea ceremony and, in his latter years, took the name Donno, becoming known as the greatest influence on tea since Sen no Rikyu. Takashi Masuda truly was a man of great stature. He was also a student at the Hepburn Academy.
The young man who kept his sights set overseas
Takashi Masuda was born in 1848, in the final years of the shogunate. His birth came five years before Commodore Perry’s Black Ships entered port at Uraga. His birthplace was Sado Island and he was originally named Tokunoshin. He lived on Sado Island until the age of eight by the traditional system of age reckoning (whereby newborns are considered one year old at birth and a year is added to everyone’s age on New Year’s Day). In 1855, his father Takanosuke, a shogunate official, was transferred to Hakodate to open a shogunal office and his family moved there with him.
Four years after that, Takanosuke was appointed to a post working for the office of the commissioners of foreign affairs and moved to Edo with his family. The office of the commissioners of foreign affairs was the equivalent of today’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Tokunoshin became a foreign language training apprentice.
He spent time on Sado Island and in Hakodate and Edo. This meant that both father and son were working in the places that had the closest contact with other countries of anywhere in Japan at the time. This was probably a key factor that influenced the character of the man later known as Takashi Masuda.
The young man’s eyes were always fixed firmly overseas.
Handling 20% of Japan’s foreign trade
In 1862, Tokunoshin passed the foreign language examination and became an interpreter for the shogunate at the age of 14. Just 14 years old! He was then ordered to work at the U.S. Consulate at Zenpukuji Temple in Azabu, where he encountered America’s first envoy to Japan, Townsend Harris. The following year, he had the opportunity to come into close contact with modern European civilization when he visited Europe as an attendant to Nagaoki Ikeda when Ikeda led the Second Japanese Embassy to Europe.
It was around that time that Tokunoshin began to attend school, aiming to further his study of the English language. That school was the Hepburn Academy, the forerunner to Meiji Gakuin, which had opened in 1863.
After the Meiji Restoration, Masuda worked for a trading house in Yokohama and then, after getting to know Kaoru Inoue, joined the Ministry of Finance at his request. However, Inoue resigned soon after and established a trading company, Senshu Gaisha, to which he appointed Masuda as vice president. Five years later, in 1876, Senshu Gaisha became Mitsui & Co. and Masuda was appointed as its first president. He was still just 29 years old.
It was also around this time that he founded the Chugai Bukka Shimpo newspaper, the predecessor of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. His purpose in doing so was to inform merchants in inland areas of Japan of fluctuations in prices at home and abroad. This newspaper went on to be renamed the Chugai Shogyo Nippo and then, after the war, became the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, achieving a rapid increase in circulation.
In 1888, Masuda succeeded in acquiring the Miike coal mine when it was sold off by the Ministry of Industry’s Department of Mines and established the Miike Coal Mine Company. This company, which later changed its name to Mitsui Mining Company, shipped the coal it produced to cities such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore, becoming the driving force behind Mitsui & Co.’s dramatic growth.
Mitsui & Co. handled 300 types of product, including coal, rice, raw cotton, and raw silk, which were Japan’s major exports at the time. By the second decade of the 20th century, the company was said to handle about 20% of the total value of Japanese trade. This was the pinnacle of Takashi Masuda’s career as an industrialist.
The man who continually sought enduring prosperity
In the words of Takashi Masuda himself, "Let not short term gains tempt your mind, seek only enduring prosperity by embracing grand aspirations."
This perhaps sounds surprising, given that Takashi Masuda’s career might appear to have consisted entirely of the pursuit of short term gains. However, this was not actually the case. One thing that springs to mind is the fact that, as well as being a first-rate businessman, Masuda was also an accomplished practitioner of tea ceremony and an ardent collector of Japanese antiques. These were certainly not interests he took up to pass the time in his twilight years after becoming a successful industrialist, but rather activities that he had enjoyed even while playing an active role on the front lines of business.
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