The Temple Builders of 578 AD
When Kongo Shigemitsu crossed the sea from the Korean kingdom of Baekje in 578 AD, Buddhism was still new to the Japanese archipelago. The master carpenter arrived at the request of Prince Shotoku to construct Shitennoji, one of Japan’s first Buddhist temples. That commission laid the foundation for what is widely regarded as the world’s oldest continuously operating company. Kongo Gumi has survived for roughly 1,450 years, spanning 40 generations and weathering wars, plagues, economic collapses, and the complete transformation of Japanese society.
Today, the Osaka-based construction firm operates as a subsidiary of Takamatsu Corporation, having faced financial distress in 2006 that forced it to merge with the larger conglomerate. Yet the lineage continues. Toshihiko Tada, the company’s executive chairman, explains that while clearly documented records from the 6th century are scarce, the existence of Shitennoji itself serves as proof of the company’s ancient origins.
Situated roughly a 12-minute walk from Tennoji Station in southern Osaka, the temple complex covers approximately 110,000 square meters and has been rebuilt countless times following fires and disasters, each reconstruction undertaken by Kongo Gumi using intricate wooden joinery techniques passed down through generations. Until the Edo Period ended in 1868, the Kongo family received a fixed annual stipend for serving as the temple’s resident miyadaiku, master carpenters specializing in the construction and maintenance of religious structures.
The Meiji Restoration brought sweeping changes that abolished this patronage system and triggered the haibutsu kishaku campaign to dismantle Buddhism’s institutional base. Shitennoji fell into financial difficulty, and Kongo Gumi lost its guaranteed income, forcing the company to seek work beyond the temple that had sustained it for over a millennium. The transition to the modern era tested not only the firm’s craft but its capacity to endure.
During the economic turmoil of the late 1920s, the 37th head of the company, described by Tada as an uncompromising craftsman, refused to pursue sales or accept work he found objectionable. This stance pushed the firm into severe distress. In 1932, facing the collapse of the business his ancestors had maintained for centuries, he apologized to his ancestors at the family gravesite and took his own life.
His wife, Yoshie, then petitioned Shitennoji daily to recognize her as toryo, or chief carpenter, despite being a woman. The temple eventually relented. Yoshie traveled widely to secure work and stabilize the company. Her breakthrough came after the Muroto typhoon struck Osaka on September 21, 1934, toppling Shitennoji’s five-story pagoda. Tasked with its reconstruction, she completed the project, restoring both the temple and the firm’s fortunes.
Inns, Flowers, and Ancient Traditions
Kongo Gumi is not alone in its ancient lineage. Across Japan, roughly a dozen institutions have existed for more than a millennium, creating a unique concentration of corporate longevity found nowhere else on Earth. According to Teikoku Databank, as of September 2024, Japan had 45,284 companies with operating histories of 100 years or more, a figure that accounts for more than half of such companies worldwide. Eleven of those date back more than a thousand years.
Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, founded in 705 AD in the mountains of Yamanashi Prefecture, holds the Guinness World Record as the world’s oldest continuously operating hotel. Like Kongo Gumi, it was run by the same family across more than 50 generations for most of its history. Built along the Hayakawa River, the inn was fully renovated in 1997 while maintaining baths supplied directly by mineral-rich hot spring water drawn from local sources.
Junpei Morita, the inn’s head of general affairs, explains that local records suggest Keiunkan traces its origins to the discovery of hot springs by the twin sons of the aristocrat and Buddhist monk Fujiwara no Mahito. Over the centuries, the inn welcomed court nobles, poets, and military leaders, including warlords Takeda Shingen and Tokugawa Ieyasu. While natural disasters have washed away parts of the inn on roughly three occasions from the late Meiji Era into the Showa period, the current president, the 53rd generation to lead the establishment, continues to uphold a long-standing principle: focus solely on the inn and avoid branching out into other ventures.
It has been a constant struggle against the forces of nature.
Morita notes that despite growing inbound tourism, which now accounts for about 20% of clientele, the core experience remains unchanged, with guests sleeping on futons laid out on tatami mats and meals prepared according to traditional customs rather than altered to suit foreign tastes.
While not included in Teikoku Databank’s list of millennium-old firms because it now operates as a foundation, Ikenobo is the oldest and largest school of ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement. Its origins are traced to Prince Shotoku and the founding of Rokkakudo Temple in Kyoto some 1,400 years ago. The first recorded reference to the lineage appears in 1462, when Ikenobo Senkei was described as a master of flower arranging.
Takuya Tochimochi, general manager of the Ikenobo Society of Floral Art’s business division, explains that the upheaval of the Meiji Restoration dealt a heavy blow to the flower arrangement world, as many schools had depended on patronage from feudal domains. Ikenobo found new footing when the Meiji government incorporated flower arrangement into girls’ education, turning what had been a largely male pursuit into an art now widely associated with women. There are now around 400 branches across Japan teaching the Ikenobo style, with roughly 120 branches overseas.
The Cultural Roots of Longevity
Japan’s remarkable concentration of ancient businesses stems from specific cultural, economic, and social factors that distinguish it from other nations. While the average lifespan of companies globally hovers around 30 years, and S&P 500 companies have seen their average survival rate drop from 60 years to less than 20, Japan hosts approximately 3,100 of the world’s 5,600 companies over 200 years old. These long-standing entities, known as shinise or “old shops,” prioritize sustainability and continuity over quick profit maximization.
Kaitaro Asahi, a researcher at Teikoku Databank who oversaw the 2024 report, notes that companies surviving more than 1,000 years are often rooted in long-standing cultural practices. These include construction firms specializing in temples and shrines, hot spring inns unique to Japan’s volcanic landscape, and businesses tied to religious activity, including the production of ritual equipment.
There are no clearly documented records that survive, but I believe the existence of Shitennoji itself stands as proof that Kongo Gumi has continued for so long.
Eiji Yamada, a director at the Japan Research Institute, observes that many are family-run enterprises based in regional areas, where prominent local families have long operated businesses passed down through generations. Yoshinori Hara, dean at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Management, stresses that Japanese companies’ emphasis on moving the enterprise forward to descendants rather than maximizing short-term shareholder value contributes to longevity. This long-term orientation combines with cultural practices of respecting tradition and ancestors, alongside Japan’s historical status as an island nation with relatively limited interaction with other countries, creating an environment where local institutions are preserved.
Adopted Heirs and Family Continuity
One distinctive practice enabling Japanese family businesses to endure is the tradition of adult adoption. Unlike in Western countries where most adoptees are children, 98 percent of Japan’s adoptees are 25-to-30-year-old men. This practice allows business owners to select capable successors even when no suitable biological heir exists, ensuring continuity of leadership. As one Japanese saying puts it, “You can’t choose your sons, but you can choose your sons-in-law.”
William O’Hara, author of Centuries of Success, identified a pattern among the oldest family businesses: they are often involved in basic human activities such as drink, shipping, construction, food, and weapons. Japanese business owners traditionally bequeathed entire companies to their eldest sons, but the flexibility to adopt adult workers into the family bloodline has ensured unbroken succession for countless enterprises. Major corporations like Suzuki Motor and Panasonic have also utilized this practice to maintain leadership continuity.
According to a 2011 study, businesses run by adopted heirs consistently outperformed those run by blood heirs. This explains why Japan’s oldest companies, while thought of as family-run, often maintain continuity through fictive kinship ties. Kongo Gumi itself maintained its lineage through a practice of choosing successors based on ability rather than bloodline, with heirs sometimes adopted if no suitable family successor was available.
Toshihiko Tada points to this succession flexibility as central to Kongo Gumi’s survival, alongside its ties to Shitennoji and its cadre of skilled temple carpenters. These three factors combined to create resilience that survived even the suicide of the 37th head and subsequent near-collapse.
Navigating Modern Crises
Despite their remarkable histories, Japan’s ancient companies face unprecedented challenges. Bankruptcies among firms operating for 100 years or more reached 110 cases as of September 2024, matching the highest level recorded in the past decade. Many failures were driven by rising costs, the absence of successors, and firms failing to recover even after loan repayment relief, with others linked to the weak yen, compliance violations, and unpaid taxes.
Japan’s declining birthrate and growing succession challenges threaten even centuries-old institutions. As younger generations show less interest in taking over traditional family businesses, and as cultural norms around marriage and inheritance evolve, recruiting young men to enter small firms under the presumption they will marry the president’s daughter has become increasingly difficult. Shifting consumer preferences mean that traditional products face diminishing demand as older customers pass away.
Financially, these companies operate under different logic than modern corporations. Yamada notes that many long-lived companies have survived not through capital markets logic but through continuity itself, making them difficult to fit into typical private equity exit models. When management becomes difficult, these firms often have better chances of preserving traditions if local financial institutions step in or if they are acquired by businesses in the same trade.
Kongo Gumi’s own brush with bankruptcy in 2006 illustrates this vulnerability. After expanding into reinforced concrete and Western-style construction during the postwar building boom, inexperience led to unprofitable contracts and mounting losses. Takamatsu Corporation stepped in to preserve the historic firm, acquiring it as a wholly owned subsidiary while allowing it to retain its name and craft lineage.
Those three factors together explain the company’s longevity.
Principles for the Long Game
The strategies of Japan’s ancient enterprises offer counterintuitive lessons for modern businesses obsessed with quarterly results and rapid scaling. The most consistent theme among these survivors is clarity of purpose combined with pragmatic adaptability. Kongo Gumi, despite specializing in traditional wooden temple construction, was among the first to use concrete to build traditional Japanese architecture and adopted computer-aided design early on.
All we did was concentrate on our core business. Put simply, it’s all about sticking to the basics.
This quote from former president Masakazu Kongo, spoken during a 2003 interview, captures the essence of the company’s philosophy. Zengoro Hoshi, the 46th-generation owner of Hoshi Ryokan, explained his inn’s millennium-plus of success with the analogy of water. Like water, the business adapts without losing its fundamental nature, finding its path around obstacles while maintaining its essence.
Shaojie Dou, a researcher at Ritsumei University studying family business longevity, identifies three critical management aspects: corporate management adhering to business principles while maintaining innovation and crisis responsiveness; family management passing down precepts and nurturing successors; and asset management ensuring wealth preservation across generations. Companies like Shoyeido, a 300-year-old incense manufacturer, demonstrate how strict commitment to founding principles combined with bold innovation in packaging and distribution can sustain traditional businesses through changing times.
For Kongo Gumi, the future involves expanding into cultural heritage projects and traditional home restoration while investing in training after UNESCO recognized traditional Japanese wooden construction skills as intangible cultural heritage in 2020. The company currently employs roughly 100 miyadaiku and one member of the Kongo family, a descendant of the 40th-generation head who serves as the family’s 41st-generation successor.
While modern start-up culture celebrates rapid growth and disruption, Japan’s ancient companies demonstrate that longevity requires playing the long game. It involves building something so solid and aligned with its environment that it can weather any storm. In a world where the average company lifespan continues to shrink, these enterprises prove that endurance is not merely about surviving, but about evolving with dignity while maintaining an unwavering commitment to core values.
Key Points
- Kongo Gumi, founded in 578 AD, is widely recognized as the world’s oldest continuously operating company, specializing in Buddhist temple construction for over 1,400 years.
- Japan hosts over 45,000 companies with at least 100 years of history, representing more than half of all such firms globally, including roughly a dozen operating for over a millennium.
- Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan (705 AD) holds the Guinness World Record as the world’s oldest hotel, while Ikenobo represents the oldest school of Japanese flower arrangement with roots dating to the 6th century.
- The practice of adult adoption allows Japanese family businesses to select capable successors regardless of blood relations, with 98% of adoptees being adult men aged 25-30.
- These ancient enterprises prioritize long-term sustainability and continuity over short-term profit maximization, often focusing on core competencies while adapting to modern demands.
- Current challenges include demographic decline, lack of successors, changing consumer preferences, and economic pressures that have pushed bankruptcy rates among century-old firms to decade highs.
