was a Japanese industrialist and financier known as the founder of Mitsubishi, one of Japan's largest conglomerates. Early life Iwasaki Yatarō was born on 9 January 1835 in Aki, Tosa Province (now Kōchi Prefecture) into a provincial farming family. Iwasaki's family had been members of the samurai warrior nobility, but his great great grandfather, Iwasaki Yajiemon () had sold off his family's samurai status in obligation of debts during the Great Tenmei famine. His family derived from Iwasaki clan that was a branch of Takeda clan of Kai Province (甲斐武田氏). The ancestor of Iwasaki clan was Iwasaki Nobutaka (岩崎信隆) known as Takeda Shichirō (武田七郎) who was the fifth son of Takeda Nobumitsu. The Iwasaki clan served Aki clan (安芸氏), and Chōsokabe clan (長宗我部氏) at the Battle of Sekigahara (October 21, 1600). Iwasaki began his career as an employee of the Yamauchi clan, the ruling clan of the Tosa Domain which had business interests in many parts of Japan. Iwasaki left for Edo aged nineteen for his education, but his studies were interrupted a year later when his father was seriously injured in a dispute with the village headman. Iwasaki accused the local magistrate of corruption for refusing to hear his case, and was subsequently sent to prison for seven months after he was kicked out from his village. After his release, Iwasaki was without a permanent job for a time before finding work as a tutor. Iwasaki returned to Edo, where he socialised with political activists and studied under the Yoshida Toyo, a reformist and modernization advocate from Tosa Province. Yoshida was employed by Yamauchi Toyoshige, the daimyō (lord) of the Tosa Domain, and he influenced Iwasaki with ideas of opening and developing the then-closed Japan through industry and foreign trade. Iwasaki found work as a clerk for the Yamauchi government through Yoshida, and eventually bought back his family's samurai status. Iwasaki was promoted to the top position at the Yamauchi clan's trading office in Nagasaki in Hizen Province, responsible for trading camphor oil and paper to buy ships, weapons, and ammunition. Mitsubishi Iwasaki travelled to Osaka following the Meiji Restoration in 1868 which overthrew the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate, abolishing the feudal system in Japan and forcing the disbandment of the shogunate's business interests. In March 1870, Iwasaki became president of the Tsukumo Trading Company, a shipping company founded on behalf of the Yamauchi clan, and leased the trading rights.