160309-0049 - Life Insurance Advertising

Advertising postcard for the Yasuda Seimei Hoken life insurance company (安田生命保険株式会社) featuring an illustration of a family holding hands while looking at the sun from the edge of a forest.

The caption reads, “The light of insurance for raising the children you love.”

The first truly Japanese insurance company was Tokio Marine, established in 1879 (Meiji 12). Meiji Seimei, founded in 1881 (Meiji 14), was the first Japanese life insurance company.

Yasuda Life Insurance was established in 1894 (Meiji 27) as Kyosai Life Insurance (共済生命保険合資会社). In 1929 (Showa 4), it was renamed Yasuda.

The Japanese government jumped into the market when it launched the Postal Life Insurance Service, popularly known as Kampo, in 1916 (Taisho 5).

Yasuda merged with Meiji in 2004 (Heisei 16).

This postcard was published no later than February 1933 (Showa 8).

Japanese text: 伸びる愛児に保険の光 安田生命