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The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (商工省,Shōkō-shō) was acabinet-level ministry in the government of theEmpire of Japan from 1925 to 1947. It was created from theMinistry of Agriculture and Commerce (農商務省,Nō-shōmu-shō), and was briefly merged with theMinistry of Agriculture and Forestry (農林省,Nōrin-shō) to reestablish that Ministry duringWorld War II.

The original Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce was created on 7 April 1881, initially under the MeijiDaijō-kan Cabinet, and then under theMeiji Constitution. It combined the Bureaus of Agriculture, Forestry, Natural History andpost station maintenance which were formerly directly under thePrime Minister with the Bureau of Commerce formerly under the control of theMinistry of Finance.

On 1 April 1925, under Prime MinisterTakahashi Korekiyo, the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce was divided into theMinistry of Agriculture and Forestry, and theMinistry of Commerce and Industry. The division was a result of long-standing acrimony within the ministry between the "commerce" portion of the ministry, which sought expanded overseas trade, and theprotectionist "agriculture" portion of the ministry which sought to ban imports of food, especially rice.

In 1934, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry divested itself of theiron and steel industry, leading to the formation of theNippon Steel Corporation. Following the start of theSecond Sino-Japanese War, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry found its role changing from promotion of trade and commerce to enforcing restrictions on trade and management of rationing programs. By the middle ofWorld War II, theMinistry of Munitions,Ministry of Transport and Communications and thePlanning Board absorbed most of the functions of the Ministry of Commerce, and the vestigial remains were merged with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to re-establish the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce on November 1, 1943. The re-formed ministry was also in charge of distribution of rationed goods.

In the post-war period, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry was re-established briefly under the aegis of theSupreme Commander of the Allied Powers, and was assigned control of electrical power production and electrical power distribution. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry became theMinistry of International Trade and Industry, or MITI on May 25, 1949.

• Harari, Ehud (1073).The Politics of Labor Legislation in Japan. University of California Press.ISBN 0-520-02264-5.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

• Former government ministries of Japan
• Government of the Empire of Japan
• 1925 establishments in Japan
• 1949 disestablishments in Japan

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