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* ''Birth: [[1867]]''
* ''Other name: Takasaburo Matsuki''


Bunkio Matsuki was born in Sewa, in [[Shinano province]].

At the age of 15 he became the attendant to the head of the [[Nichiren]] sect of [[Buddhism]], and two years later he became his disciple,
when he was given the name Bunkio.

Like many other Japanese, he had a desire to see the outside world.
He went to [[China]] in [[1886]] and remained there one year and a half, after which he returned to Japan. He then left his native land for the United States, arriving in San Francisco in [[1888]], where he remained only seven days, when he went East to Boston with $67 in his pocket. He got acquainted with Prof. Edward S. Morse, and through his kindness got
into the Salem High School, from which he graduated in [[1890]]. He revisited Japan for the first time in [[1891]], representing the Syndicate
Trading Company. A. Swan Brown was then president. He opened the first Japanese store in Boston in October, [[1883]]. In the same year he built the first Japanese house in Salem, Mass.

Beginning in 1891, he visited Japan every year, as he found it necessary to select ancient and modern art goods in person. He originated many ideas of commercial value which offered in his store in Boston, and in his art sells in various cities. His aim in commerce was to handle only the real and highest quality of Japanese art objects, importing only genuine articles, instead of buying imitations in what is known as the "Yokohama style."

Matsuki was a liberal contributor of illustrated articles on Japanese
art in different papers and magazines in the United States.

==References==
* ''[http://www.archive.org/details/promamerinter00hepbrich Prominent Americans interested in Japan and prominent Japanese in America]'', New York, 1903 ''(Public Domain source)''

[[Category:Religious Figures]][[Category:Merchants]][[Category:Meiji Period]]