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Before diving in — Vol. 2 sets out the author’s framing and caveats.
Starting with this volume, we will explore in earnest how the Ohmi Shonin conducted business and built their presence across Japan, and how Jodo Shinshu, Jodo Buddhism, and other Japanese religious traditions shaped the way they operated.
As noted in Vol. 1, Itochu Corporation and Marubeni Corporation both trace their origins to the Ohmi Shonin and have since grown into large organizations. Since 2020, Berkshire Hathaway has been making substantial investments in five of Japan’s major general trading companies (”sogo shosha”), including these two.
As their name suggests, the sogo shosha handle a remarkably broad range of goods: food including grains, steel products and their raw materials, resins, and even aerospace-related products. Energy such as oil is also an important commodity for the sogo shosha, though Itochu and Marubeni place notably less emphasis on it than their competitors — a point we will return to in a later volume.
Textiles and the apparel products made from them are another core commodity for the sogo shosha. One example: Masahiro Okafuji, the president at the time (now chairman) who led Itochu to the top of Japan’s sogo shosha rankings in net profit, share price, and market capitalization in FY2020,*1 built his career in the textile division. Itochu also holds and sells sublicenses for more than 200 brands, and perhaps the most well-known of these relationships is with Paul Smith. The company supplies materials to Paul Smith and handles its sales in Japan — and it also holds a stake in the firm. Paul Smith himself retains 60 percent of all shares, with the remaining 40 percent held by Itochu.*2
Marubeni, too, is active in textiles and apparel brands. One example: Marubeni holds the trademark rights for Nigel Cabourn across Asia.*3
In 1858 — the year both companies cite as their founding — textiles were the first commodity they handled. Chubei Ito, the founder of both Itochu and Marubeni, set out that year on a traveling merchant’s journey to Kyoto, Osaka, and Kishu, carrying linen cloth.*4
Linen cloth was a specialty product of the Ohmi region, and many Ohmi Shonin dealt in textiles. Gin-emon Kobayashi is one such figure — a name that appears frequently in sources on the Ohmi Shonin. A textile trading company bearing his common name, Chogin, still exists today.
Today’s sogo shosha source raw materials from around the world and sell into global markets; the same structure applies to their apparel businesses. In that sense, they are not simply carrying on the same trade as Ito and his contemporaries, who sold linen cloth produced in Ohmi. And yet it is fair to say that over roughly 170 years — even as economies have become globalized and complex — these companies have continued to engage in the textile business in its traditional form while also engaging in more sophisticated business.
*1 Nikkei Online Edition, January 24, 2025
*2 Senken Shimbun, “Paul Smith”
*3 Marubeni Group Press Release: “Acquisition of OUTER LIMITS Co., Ltd., which holds the trademark rights for ‘Nigel Cabourn’ [Marubeni Fashion Link]”
*4 Takashi Aoki, “Corporate Philosophy and CSR Activities at Itochu Corporation, Rooted in the Ohmi Merchant Tradition,” Shodai Ronshu, Vol. 68, No. 2
