Businessperson and folklore researcher. The grandson of SHIBUSAWA Eiichi, he graduated from Imperial University of Tokyo in 1921 and worked at Yokohama Specie Bank. In 1925, he became a director of Daiichi Bank, founded by his grandfather, and became its president in 1941. He served as Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan in 1942, Governor of the Bank of Japan in 1944, and Minister of Finance in the Shidehara Cabinet in 1945, working on postwar anti-inflation measures. Although he was expelled from public office, after expulsion he became president of Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co., Ltd. (later KDDI) and chairman of the Nippon Culture Broadcasting Corporation, and played an active role in the business world. He also established the Attic Museum (later, the Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture) to continue folklore research and assist researchers.