At Kumano the news of his safe arrival at Yedo had been received at the Daikokuya and by the townspeople with the liveliest satisfaction. They had been waiting eagerly for his return. Sure enough, Bunkichi had come back on board that very Iurei-maru, and the people, whether they were personally known to him or not, flocked round him with their congratulations.
From that day the master of the Daikokuya treated him as his guest, while the people of the town respected him as a gentleman, and no one called him the Wanizame-Kozo any more.
On his arrival home Bunkichi recounted all his transactions to the master of the Daikokuya, and then went at once to the merchants from whom he had bought the fruit that he sold in Yedo. “I thank you for the cargo of oranges you sold me some time ago at such a cheap price,” said he. “I made a great profit by that cargo, but I don’t like to be only a gainer myself while you all are losing your money, so I’ll give you double what I then paid you for the oranges.”
On account of this unexpected liberality they were very grateful to him, and his fame went abroad all over the province of Kii, and everybody began to know him, and whenever he wanted to invest in any goods, he had no difficulty in getting all he wished.
The day came at last when Bunkichi determined to go up to the great city of Yedo to make his name famous in the whole of Japan by trading on a large scale. With this resolve, he negotiated with some of the big merchants of Kumano as to whether they would make a contract with him to send up all their oranges and timber to his shop as their only agency in Yedo. As they were already under a debt of obligation to him, every one of them agreed to do his best to keep Bunkichi’s store in Yedo well supplied. Bunkichi was greatly rejoiced, and, on this occasion traveling overland, he arrived at Yedo in due time and established himself in the Hatcho-bori district, under the name of Kinokuniya.[[28]] This happened in the second year of the Sho-o era (1653 A.D.), when he was nineteen years of age. Then he changed his name Bunkichi into Bunzayemon (his father’s name), and began to trade on a large scale in timber and oranges from Kishu, selling them to the whole city of Yedo. Thus his prosperity increased.
[28]. House of the Kino Kuni (country of Kii).
One day a master carpenter, who had the entrée to the house, came to see Bunzayemon, saying: “I have come to consult with you on a rather strange matter. How would you like to engage a man for your business?”
“Well, it all depends on what kind of a man he is,” was the reply.
“He is rather an eccentric sort of fellow. If I tell you plainly about him there will be little chance of your employing him; but the strange thing is that he wishes me to do so. ‘If Bunzayemon will employ me, good; if he will not employ me, he is a fool, and I don’t want to be employed.’ Those were the very words he said to me, and added, to my surprise: ‘As for you, if he hasn’t the sense to engage me, you needn’t regret losing such a customer as he is.’”
“I don’t wonder you were surprised,” replied Bunzayemon; “but what has he been hitherto?”