A virtuous person (Utoku-nin)

Japanese: 有徳人(有得人) - うとくにん

Also called "utokujin" or "utokusha." Toku = gain, meaning a person with good fortune, refers to a wealthy person who owns a lot of gold, silver, and treasures. It frequently appears in historical documents from the late Kamakura period to the Muromachi period, and also appears in kanazoshi and ukiyozoshi from the Edo period. As seen in "Shasekishu" (Collection of Shaseki), "A virtuous head priest of a temple on a certain mountain" and "A virtuous nun who runs a sake brewery," it refers to wealthy financial businesses such as kashiage (rental house), doso (stock storehouse), and sake shops, as well as merchants and industrialists. It is often expressed as a virtuous rich person, as in "The virtuous rich man" in "The Three Rich Men" from Toraakira's Kyogen.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

〈うとくじん〉〈うとくしゃ〉ともいう。徳＝得であり，福徳有る人という意味で，金銀財宝をたくさん所有する裕福な人を指す。鎌倉後期から室町時代に盛んに史料に現れ，江戸時代の仮名草子，浮世草子にも出てくる。《沙石集》に〈或山寺に有徳の房主〉や〈酤酒家の徳人の尼〉と見えるように，借上（かしあげ），土倉（どそう），酒屋などの金融業者，商工業者の富裕なものを指す。虎明本狂言の〈三人の長者〉の〈長者の有徳人〉のように，有徳の長者と表現される場合も多い。

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

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