A company that has survived two atomic bombs has been active for over 14 centuries. A Japanese family-owned construction company called “Kongo Gumi” has been conducting business for at least 1,443 years.
Wikimedia Commons/Saigen Jiro
A temple-building company
Known for building temples, the company was started by a Korean builder named Shigemitsu Kongo. Kongo was invited by Prince Shōtoku to build a Buddhist temple in Japan.
The Shitennō-ji temple, which still stands tall in Osaka, Japan was the beginning of the Kongo family business. Since then, over 40 generations have been running the construction company. The names of Kongo family members have been notably listed in a scroll from the 17th century.
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According to Interesting Engineering, the business has survived because religion doesn’t go out of style. About 80 per cent of the company’s income is generated from Buddhist temples.
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The company may be the world’s oldest and the most resilient, having survived multiple natural disasters, political crises and two nuclear bombs that rocked Japan during World War 2.
But now, the company is not in the hands of the Kongo family. Owing to a collapse in the 1980s, the company became a subsidiary of the Takamatsu Construction Group.
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In the 1980s, the Bank of Japan had kept interest rates extremely low – which created an asset bubble of sorts. With this, companies took on more debts than they could ever repay. When the bubble burst, all companies had left was debt. And that’s how Kongo Guni’s centuries-long legacy was effectively buried.
Reuters
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Citation
Emir, C. (2021, November 26). The World’s Oldest Company Has Been Active for Over 14 Centuries. Interesting Engineering.