Background
Sumitomo Masatomo was born on December 31, 1585 Sakai, Muromachi, Japan. His grandfather in Echizen Province (Fukui Prefecture ) served Katsuie Shibata, a warlord, and his father, Tomoyuki, served Hideyasu Yuki.
政友 住友
Sumitomo Masatomo was born on December 31, 1585 Sakai, Muromachi, Japan. His grandfather in Echizen Province (Fukui Prefecture ) served Katsuie Shibata, a warlord, and his father, Tomoyuki, served Hideyasu Yuki.
Originally he was a Buddhist monk. During his lifetime, there were mainly two sectors of Buddhist monks in Japan. Masatomo belonged to one of the two which later ceased to exist.
He started his business by selling books and medicines at first in a bookshop in Kyoto circa 1615. His establishment was called Fujiya.
A devout Buddhist, he gave away much money in charity.