Ishida Baigan (1685-1744), who sought to develop a set of business ethics for merchants, asserted “to obtain business profits fairly is the proper practice of merchant living, ” and that this was legitimate because “merchants are vassals (social servants) of the street.” Then, he stressed that the merchants ought to establish their own viewpoint about the social meaning of commercial transactions. Furthermore, asking what the true meaning of a transaction should be, he maintained that “true merchants are those who satisfy their customers as well as themselves, ” -in other words, the transactions had to benefit both parties in buying and selling. Merchants, therefore, must respect their customers' interest. Thus, Baigan said that merchants had to cultivate the mind of the people in the realm. On the other hand, the thought of Baigan is characterized as “a philosophy of frugality, ” which he developed from his experience in a merchant house. This way of living was named “shimatsu” which implied the maintenance of a ballance between beginning and end. While shimatsu means economic rationalism in business philosophy, Baigan, having conceived the idea of frugality in a higher sense, recognized it as the basis of all moral virtues, and identified it as honesty. He said that one could lead a frugal life naturally when he was honest, and that he could recover the genuine honesty which was innated to every one whenever he put frugality into practice. Behind such a thought was the idea of “mottai-nai”, a sort of national sentiment. This word implies literally the loss of appearance or manner proper to its nature, that is intolerable because it is contrary to the blessing offered by an invisible God. Then, Baigan explained, in brief, that frugality was “to abide by a law of existence.” In such a thought, frugality is nothing but rationalization itself.
