1873-1957
male
After graduating from university, he joined Mitsui Bank and was promoted to the chief of the Tokyo Head Office Research Division, but left the company in 1907.
After that, at the recommendation of his boss from his banking days, Iwashita Seishu, he participated in the establishment of the Mino-o Arima Electric Railway (later the Keihanshin Express Railway, now the Hankyu Electric Railway).
He established the ‘New Takarazuka Hot spring Paradise and Takarazuka Singing Group (Takarazuka Revue)’ at the final stop, Takarazuka Station.
He contributed to the opening of the Hankyu Department Store in Umeda, the first station, to form the first major shopping mall in Japan that combined stations and department stores, and also to the establishment of summer high school baseball, making him a figure who is at the core of modern day business administration studies.
As a hobby, he collected art works, and now there is an art museum that has been built at the site of his home (Ikeda City, Osaka Prefecture) known as the ‘Itsuo Collection’.
