was a Japanese Buddhist monk and businessman credited with founding the

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

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Sumitomo Group The is a Japanese corporate group and ''keiretsu'' that traces its roots to the ''zaibatsu'' groups that were dissolved after World War II. Unlike the ''zaibatsu'' of the pre-war period, there is no controlling company with regulatory power. In ...

. He was an 8th generation descendant of Sumitomo Tadashige. Sumitomo Tadashige said to be 22nd generation descendant of Taira no Takamochi from Kanmu Heishi clan who was a grandson of 50th Emperor of Japan,

Emperor Kanmu , or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 桓武天皇 (50) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Kammu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the scop ...

. Originally, he was a Buddhist monk. During his lifetime, there were mainly two sects of Buddhist monks in Japan. Masatomo belonged to one of the two which later ceased to exist. Reluctant to join the other group of Buddhist monks, he turned to business to make a living. He started his business by selling books and medicines at first in a bookshop in Kyoto circa 1615.

References

1585 births 1652 deaths 16th-century Japanese people Japanese company founders Buddhist clergy of Muromachi-period Japan People from Fukui Prefecture People from Sakai, Fukui {{Japan-bio-stub