Sumitomo Masatomo
Sumitomo Masatomo was a Japanese copper mining businessman credited with founding the eponymous Sumitomo Group. 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. 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.
