Enomoto was a trader and a weapon dealer from whom feudal lord families including Shimazu, Mori, Yamauchi, Maeda and Hachisuga had purchased guns secretly from the shogunate, and after the Meiji Restoration, he made a fortune by export of raw silk thread.
榎本は貿易商で、島津・毛利・山内・前田・蜂須賀ら大名家が幕府に内緒で銃を買い入れていた武器商人で、維新後は生糸の輸出で財をなしていた。