“Rongo To Soroban (the Analects of Confucius and abacus)” written by Eiichi Shibusawa

GDP is growing in many countries and we are getting richer than past. Are we happier than the past because of wealth? If the answer is “No”, then we should learn what is the true happiness with the book “Rongo To Soroban”.

“Rongo To Soroban” is a book written by Eiichi Shibusawa, who laid the foundation of the Japanese economy. Shibusawa believed that both morality and economic activity were important for people to live happily. Shibusawa wrote “Rongo To Soroban” with such idea. In this article, I introduce the main points of “Rongo To Soroban”

For whom

who are interested in the theme of how to stop the runaway of capitalism, the Analects of Confucius, the ideas that form the basis of the management philosophy of Japanese companies.

Author / Words

Eiichi Shibusawa is the most famous person in Japanese industry who has launched several a lot of Japanese companies.

“the Analects of Confucius” is a book written by Confucius in ancient China, and we can learn morals such as “how we can live better”

“Abacus” is an old calculator and was mainly used to calculate money in Japan. It is a symbol of economic activity in this book.

Point 1: Pursue profits with morality

Economic activity in pursuit of profit is important for enriching people in the country. However, pursuing only profits also make us unhappy. For example, such pursing occur disparities, environmental destruction and many other problems. Shibusawa told the importance of morality when pursuing profits in economic activity. We can truly enrich the country with the balance of profit pursuit and morality.

Point 2: Work for society, not for individual

When we work, we tends to prioritize the interests of ourselves. However, Shibusawa thought that we should work not only for our individual profit but also for the profit of society. If we enrich society, individuals can also be happy. Shibusawa worked very hard for the society based on the idea. He established and supported about 600 organizations in social business activities such as education, welfare, and culture. This idea seems to be important recently because it is similar to the ESG and SDGs.

Economic disparity is becoming a serious social problem these days. Rebuilding capitalism is required strongly. Eiichi Shibusawa, who introduced capitalism to Japan, had identified the problems of capitalism over 100years ado and insisted on the importance of acquiring morality. By reading this book, you can learn the philosophy of Shibusawa.