The Wisdom of
Munehisa
Honma
An English translation of market writings attributed to Munehisa Honma (本間宗久), the eighteenth-century rice merchant from Sakata.
- Edition
- Hardcover, 8.5 × 11 in
- Contents
- Upper Volume, 73 chapters
Lower Volume, 85 chapters
Sakata rice records, 1768–1796 - Status
- In preparation
Background
Munehisa Honma (本間宗久) was born in 1717 into the wealthy Honma merchant family in Sakata, on Japan's northern coast. He traded rice at the Sakata and Osaka Dōjima exchanges with such success that later generations called him 相場の神様, the "God of the Markets."
His name is familiar in modern finance, but mostly through half-true secondhand stories and a long game of telephone between Japan and the West. His actual teachings on market cycles, crowd psychology, risk, patience, and composure—have remained locked in Edo-period Japanese.
I have collected the various sources, talked with prominent researchers and scholars in this area, and collected his works here in English for the first time.
Talks
- Sept 2026From Hiroku to Open Data: How Edo-Period Secret Market Texts Migrate Across Digital Umwelts. JADH 2026, Kyushu.
- July 31, 2026Munehisa Honma: The Man, The Myth, The Legend. TSAA-SF Annual Conference, Golden Gate University, San Francisco.