Homma Munehisa

Homma Munehisa ( Japanese 本 間 宗 久 , also: Honma Munehisa or On-Reading : Homma Sōkyū ; * 1724 in Sakata ; † 1803 ) was a Japanese rice trader from Sakata. His nickname was god of markets .

Life

Homma came from a wealthy family in northwestern Japan. Although he was the youngest son, he took over the family business in 1750 and became a rice trader and successor to his father. He first worked in his native Sakata and then came to Dojima near Osaka where rice was traded for all of Japan. Homma Munehisa was probably the first to be interested in historical rice prices. He is said to be the inventor of candlestick graphics (also known as the Sakata strategy in Japan ), a technique for illustrating price fluctuations. He later published books on interpreting the results. This technique was popularized by Steve Nison in the late 1990s.

With this technique he brought the entire rice market under his control and became the richest man in Japan, as wealth was measured in Koku rice at the time and this was the daimyo's main source of income .

Above all, he recognized the importance of getting information quickly. So he set up a chain of signposts which, standing on the roofs of houses, relayed flag signals. This enabled important information to be transmitted from Sakata very quickly over 600 km to Osaka. About 150 people worked in this chain.

Because of his success, he later became a samurai and financial advisor to the Japanese government.

Books

In 1755, Homma Munehisa described his findings in the book San'en Kinsen Hiroku ( 三 猿 金泉 秘録 , German about: "The source of money - the three monkeys' remarks on money"), one of the first books on market psychology. The three monkeys have a different meaning in Japan than in Europe. According to Nison, they are to be interpreted as follows:

• "See no evil": When falling (rising) rates looks , do not panic, but buy targeted / sell.
• “Hear no evil”: If you hear of falling (rising) prices, do not respond to rumors
• “Say no evil”: Don't tell others what you will do

He is also said to have been involved in two other books.

• Sakata Senjutsu Shōkai ( 酒 田 戦 術 詳解 ): Detailed comments on candle graphics (Sakata strategy)
• Homma Sōkyū Sōba Zanmaiden ( 本 間 宗 久 相 場 三昧 伝 )

Japanese rice market in the 17th century Edo period

The rice was initially traded through barter . From around 1710 efforts were made to make the market independent of the season. The harvests were already sold before they were brought in ( future ). The real rice was replaced by a rice coupon , a kind of promissory note, which was later exchanged for the real rice. These coupons now became commodities in themselves.

The abuse of the process then resulted in 110,000 bales of rice being traded in 1749, although only 30,000 were being produced in all of Japan at the time.

see also: Fudasashi

literature

• Steve Nison: Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques: A Contemporary Guide to the Ancient Investment Techniques of the Far East . B&T, 2002, ISBN 978-0-7352-0181-1

Web links

• SZ series: The big speculators (39): The rice trader
• John Needham: Samurai Trader! Homage to Homma (English)

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Homma is the family name, Munehisa the first name.