A long-form series exploring the merchant philosophy of the Ohmi Shonin and its roots in Pure Land Buddhism.
Series Vol. 13 | Ohmi Shonin on the Move — Overland Routes
Not every Ohmi Shonin shouldered a carrying pole. Vol. 13 looks at how these merchants actually travelled overland in the Edo period—from hikyaku shipping to a surprising fact about horses that most Japanese get wrong.
Series Vol. 12 | How Much Profit Were the Ohmi Shonin Really Making?
The Ohmi Shonin were not merely virtuous merchants — they were profitable ones. This installment examines the evidence: from the survival of Ohmi Shonin-founded companies such as Itochu, Marubeni, Nishikawa, Takashimaya, Nippon Life, and Wacoal, to the remarkable personal fortune of Genzaemon Nakai, who grew his assets from 2 ryo at age nineteen to 115,000 ryo by his late eighties. Drawing on a 2021 academic paper by Shiga University's Yukari Matsuda, the piece also shows that the Nakai family maintained a bookkeeping system closely resembling double-entry accounting — more than seventy years before Western double-entry bookkeeping reached Japan in 1873.
Series Vol. 11 | Seken-Yoshi
What does seken — "the world" — actually mean? The word has Buddhist roots that most Japanese speakers have forgotten. Vol. 11 asks what those roots mean for us today, and for the economy we need to build.
The Jodo Ethic and the Spirit of the Ohmi Shonin Vol. 10 | Kai-te Yoshi
The Ohmi Shonin conducted business across nearly all of Japan by the 18th and 19th centuries — and beyond its borders as early as the 17th. This volume traces where they went, who resented them for it, and why their legacy endures regardless.
The Jodo Ethic and the Spirit of the Ohmi Shonin Vol. 9 | Uri-te Yoshi Ⅱ
The Ohmi Shonin lived by a simple maxim: shimatsu shite kibaru — use everything to the last, and work without rest. Vol. 9 explores what that ethic looked like in practice, from a box lid made of recycled business papers at the Ohmi Shonin Kyodokan, to an eighteenth-century merchant's blunt advice on how to build wealth. The spirit, it turns out, is not so distant from the habits of Warren Buffett or Bill Gates.
The Jodo Ethic and the Spirit of the Ohmi Shonin Vol. 8 | Uri-te Yoshi
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Before diving in — Vol. 2 sets out the author’s framing and ...
The Jodo Ethic and the Spirit of the Ohmi Shonin Vol. 7 | Sanpo Yoshi Ⅲ
The Ohmi Shonin operated as outsiders in distant regions — and that shaped everything. Vol. 7 explores the merchant wisdom behind Sanpo Yoshi, and why humility may be its hidden foundation.
The Jodo Ethic and the Spirit of the Ohmi Shonin Vol. 6 | Sanpo Yoshi II
The Ohmi Shonin concept of Sanpo Yoshi is often linked to CSR — but the author argues it is closer to Stakeholder Capitalism. What does that mean for how we think about corporate obligations, and who a company truly belongs to?
The Jodo Ethic and the Spirit of the Ohmi Shonin Vol. 5 | Sanpo Yoshi I
What is sanpo yoshi — and did the Ohmi Shonin actually use the term? This installment explores the philosophy behind the concept, and the Marubeni executive who rebuilt an elementary school in a small town, inspired by the founding of Stanford University.
The Jodo Ethic and the Spirit of the Ohmi Shonin Vol. 4 | Why So Many Shonin Were Born in One Place
Why did Ohmi produce so many merchant dynasties? This installment of The Jodo Ethic and the Spirit of the Ohmi Shonin examines the competing theories — from naturalized immigrants and free markets to fragmented fiefdoms — and argues that geography, more than any single cause, was the common thread that sustained them all.