Ten companies exist on the planet today that were founded before 1000 AD

quote:

---

Ten companies exist on the planet today that were founded before 1000 AD. Seven of those are Japanese, the oldest being Kongo Gumi, a construction firm founded by three craftsmen from Korea who took a commission from Prince Shotoku in 578 AD. Shotoku was the great early patron of Japanese Buddhism and was responsible for constructing the Shitenno-ji temple, Japan’s oldest Buddhist house of worship (still in operation, image above). The Kongo clan continued to operate their family firm for centuries, contributing for example to the construction of Osaka Castle in the 1500’s. In the early 2000’s, a scion of this business dynasty, Masakazu Kongo, was still Kongo Gumi’s CEO. But his poor business decisions finally led to its acquisition by a larger firm in 2006.

The extraordinary longevity of Kongo Gumi (and the fact that it is but one among the majority Japanese contingent in the record books) tells us something significant about the nature of Japanese culture and the value it places on antiquity and continuity (still on the historic if not quite millennial scale, 3,146 of the world’ 5,586 companies older than 200 years are based in Japan).

Japanese reverence for continuity and antiquity was on display in 2020 when Prime Minister Taro Aso declared “No other country but this one has lasted for as long as 2,000 years with one language, one ethnic group and one dynasty.” Of the 125 million residents of the islands of Japan, 98% are ethnic Japanese or Yamato. Japan as a nation-state with Western-style laws and political institutions dates to the late 19th century, long after Yamato identity as a people ruled by their Emperors had been set. To this day, the Japanese view their nation-state as the political manifestation of the Yamato race and its storied cultural traditions, as opposed to the expression of ideals like liberty or justice. This ethnic, rather than idealistic, cast to notions of Japanese nationhood finds outlet in moments like when the first mixed race woman won Miss Japan in 2015; many Japanese objected to her representing them because of her race (her father is a black American). She did not meet her fellow citizens’ definition of Japaneseness, because she was not of 100% pure Yamato blood.

---