The number of Japanese corporate bankruptcies with liabilities of more than 10 million yen rose 51.1 percent in February from a year earlier to 1,443, a private credit research institute said Tuesday.

It marked the fourth consecutive monthly increase over the previous year following a 43.7 percent surge in January, Teikoku Databank said.

The amount of liabilities left by the failed companies totaled 1.207 trillion yen in the reporting month, up 48.4 percent from a year earlier and up 99.9 percent over the previous month.