Ozu Family - Ozuke

… Ise merchants were famous not only for their kimono and cotton wholesale businesses, but also for their paper, tea, and hardware wholesale businesses. The Ozu family of Matsusaka, which later produced Motoori Norinaga, ran a cotton wholesale business, a ginning cotton wholesale business, and a paper wholesale business, a tea wholesale business, and a dried bonito wholesale business under different names, and was known as one of the leading wholesale merchants in Edo. However, the servants who worked for these large stores often took over the business at the end of their indenture contract and became independent. In such cases, they could not choose the same business as their master, so they engaged in a variety of businesses and often called themselves Iseya. …

*Some of the terminology that refers to the "Ozu family" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…　伊勢商人は呉服屋，木綿問屋だけでなく，紙問屋，茶問屋，荒物問屋などが著名であった。のちに本居宣長を出した松坂の小津家は，木綿問屋，繰綿問屋のほか別名義で紙問屋，茶問屋，下り鰹節問屋を営み，江戸でも有数の問屋商人とうたわれた存在であるが，これらの大店に勤めていた奉公人たちが年季明けによってのれんを譲り受けて自立することが多かった。その場合，主家と同じ業種をえらぶことができず多様な商売に従事し，伊勢屋を名のることが多かった。…

※「小津家」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報