There are no noticeable stains or scratches, but please understand that this item has been personally managed. #TakashimaEki #KaemonTakashima ◆ Kaemon Takashima, whose childhood name was Seizaburo, was born on November 3, 1832, as the heir to the lumber merchant and construction contractor, Enshuya Kahee, in Kyobashi, Edo. He showed business acumen from a young age, succeeded his father, and ran a lumber business in Edo. He opened a store called "Hizenya" when Yokohama opened to foreign trade in June 1858, and it prospered, but he was imprisoned due to trouble involving the prohibited trading of gold and silver coins. The Edo Denmacho prison at the time was an incredibly terrible place where the worst criminals held sway, but due to his naturally strong constitution, trained physical strength, and mental fortitude, he subdued the villains and secured a safe position within the prison in about three months. In the past, many late-Edo period patriots and debaters, such as Shoin Yoshida, were imprisoned in this prison, and he discovered the two volumes of the "I Ching" (Book of Changes), which he believed were left behind by someone among them, under the tatami mats. He had received guidance from his father from a young age, learned reading aloud, and had a strong memory from birth, so he could almost recite the Four Books and Five Classics (a general term for nine books considered particularly important among the Confucian classics). He also had the ability to fully understand the "I Ching," which is considered the most important of the Five Classics. He had been too busy with his family business to have time to read, but because he had nothing to do in prison, he devoured the book and memorized all the hexagram statements of the sixty-four hexagrams, as well as the statements of the three hundred and eighty-four lines. He did not waste his six years of prison life. The foundation of the later Takashima Eki (Takashima's divination) was established at this time.