Abstract: Shibusawa Eiichi is hailed as “the father of modern Japanese capitalism”, and his “theory of the unity of economy and morality” that he advocated with all his might has attracted worldwide attention. Examining Shibusawa Eiichis concept of family from a micro-empirical perspective helps to comprehensively understand and recognize the multiple aspects of Shibusawa in promoting modern Japans transformation onto the path of economic modernization. As a leading figure in leading the economic development trend in the Meiji era, how Shibusawa Eiichi handled the relationship among family, clan and country has become one of the important microcosms for examining and observing the trend of modern Japanese society from the family level as the basic unit of society. Shibusawa was engaged in handling issues such as setting up an independent household from the “Shibusawa main family”, abolishing and appointing family heirs, formulating family laws and precepts and establishing a clan association, aiming to promote the “homologous structure of family and country” development model in which the Japanese family system and national progress go hand in hand. At the same time, on issues such as abolishing family heirs, Shibusawa also fell into an awkward situation where it was difficult to effectively deal with the complex emotions among family ethics, social ethics and political ethics. Shibusawa Eiichi family is one of the representative families in modern Japan, and its concept of family reflects that in the process of transforming from a feudal society to a modern society, the traditional family system underwent evolution and replacement under the impact of the modernization trend of “the wests influence spreading eastward”.

Key words: Shibusawa Eiichi, modern Japan, Meiji Era, family system, concept of family