A Priest's Tribulations A Meeting with Copper Elevating Business with Moral Precepts

A Priest's Tribulations

It measured 90 cm by 50 cm. One day about 400 years ago, in an age when samurai still ruled Japan, Sumitomo Masatomo (1585-1652) must have had complex feelings as he hoisted the heavy sign up on the front of his new Chinese medicine shop. And how could he have imagined that the raising of that sign would come to mark one of the earliest origins of an industrial group so vast that it would become symbolic of the nation it grew up in? At the age of 12, with the strong encouragement of his parents, Masatomo set out on the path of the Buddhist priest. He then had the fortuitousness to encounter a great mentor, the Master Kugen, who spent his life establishing the Nehan School of Buddhism. Masatomo became a disciple of Kugen and through his diligence and erudite habits, he rose to the top, where he assisted his teacher with the day to day work of spreading the teachings of their school. But then the government moved abruptly to bring religious organizations under its tight control. As an added blow to Masatomo, soon thereafter his master suddenly passed away. Ostensibly to ban Christianity, the rulers had issued their first seclusion edict, closing the country to outsiders for the first time in 1633; their real objective was to strengthen the feudal system. With the previous atmosphere of freedom gradually eroding away, these times must have been deeply troubling to Masatomo, who had spent 30 years of his life wholeheartedly working to spread his faith. Ostensibly to ban Christianity, the rulers had issued their first seclusion edict, closing the country to outsiders for the first time in 1633; their real objective was to strengthen the feudal system. With the previous atmosphere of freedom gradually eroding away, these times must have been deeply troubling to Masatomo, who had spent 30 years of his life wholeheartedly working to spread his faith. These events forced difficult choices on a man who had dedicated his whole life to a religious path. Masatomo was determined to continue spreading the teachings of his late master to ordinary people, but he also needed to support himself. Of all the different types of businesses available, his strong desire to relieve the suffering of even one other person led him to choose selling medicine and publishing.