Abstract: Ogyu Sorai was a typical scholar who put forward the idea of “restraining commerce” in the Edo period in Japan.One of his purposes in proposing policies such as“Samurai Returning to Agriculture” and “Hierarchical Consumption” was to free the samurai class from the quagmire of the urban economy.However, from the perspective of samurai consumption, he still tolerated the production and exchange of commodities to a certain extent in the actual narrative of the “restraining commerce” policy.He put forward “special restraining commerce” theory, which not only began to adjust the traditional economic thoughts, but also provided a theoretical space for the sprout of the mercantile thinking.

Key words: Edo period, emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce, commodity economy, mercantile thinking