Richard Cocks

An English merchant from Staffordshire, he led the East India Company’s factory at Hirado, Japan, from 1613 until its closure in 1623. He arrived at a moment when English traders were trying to establish themselves in East Asia, and his work placed him at the center of fragile commercial and political relationships.

He is remembered above all for his diary and correspondence, which describe everyday business, travel, negotiations, and the practical challenges of living and trading in Japan. Those writings have become valuable historical sources because they capture events in close detail and show how global trade looked from the ground level.

After leaving Japan, he died in 1624 during the voyage home. For modern readers, his account remains compelling not just as a record of commerce, but as a human story of distance, uncertainty, and cross-cultural contact in the early seventeenth century.