Kongō Gumi

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Employees by Kongō Gumi (1930)

KK Kongō Gumi ( Japanese 株式会社 金剛 組 , Kabushiki kaisha Kongō Gumi ) was a Japanese construction company, which at 1428 years was the company with the world's longest continuous operating history. It was founded in 578 when Shōtoku Taishi brought members of the Kongō family from Baekje in what is now Korea to Japan to build the Shitennō-ji Buddhist temple in Osaka . The temple still exists, but only one hall survived the Second World War . Over the centuries the family built many famous buildings such as the 16th century , the Osaka Castle .

In a scroll over three meters long from the 17th century , the trail of the company can be traced back 39 generations. As is customary in Japan, sons-in-law often came into the clan through marriage, who took the surname Kongō and thus maintained the line of sons and daughters.

Shortly before the Second World War, when armaments were more important than temples, the company had existential problems. It was saved by a storm that destroyed a five-story pagoda in the famous Shitennō-ji, which was rebuilt by Kongō Gumi.

The end of the company came with the takeover by the Takamatsu Construction Group . In January 2006 Kongō Gumi was dissolved due to indebtedness and the business activities were transferred to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takamatsu of the same name. Most recently it employed over 100 people and in a report from April 2004 had sales of 7.5 billion yen (approx. 59 million euros). Masakazu Kongō was the 40th and last Kongō to head the company.

literature

  • William T. O'Hara: Secrets of the Temple: Kongō Gumi . In: Centuries of Success: Lessons from the World's Most Enduring Family Business . Adams Media, 2004, ISBN 1-58062-937-7 , pp. 1–16 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

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