Morishita Hiroshi was the founder of Morishita Jintan, an Osaka-based corporation specializing in healthcare products.
Morishita was born in 1869 in Tomonoura, a small port-town in Fukuyama domain. When Morishita was still young, his father resigned his position as priest of the local Nunakuma Shrine; Morishita then became an apprentice at a tobacco shop, and later at a textiles shop. In 1893, he opened his own business, Morishita Nan'yôdô. In 1900, he launched a wide-ranging campaign to sell syphilis medication. In 1905, he began selling the pocket medication jintan, which would become a bestselling product. He eventually came to be known as kôkoku no ô, or "King of Advertising."
Growing quite successful, he came to make sizable donations of funds to help support his hometown, Tomonoura. These included scholarships for students, funds for construction of new buildings, funds for tourism initiatives and for repairs and maintenance of temples and shrines, as well as for railroad links.
A bust of Morishita was erected at the Nunakuma Shrine in 1938; though later melted down to support the war effort, it was reconstructed and re-erected in 1952.
References
- Plaques on-site in Tomonoura.[1]