Kongo Gumi

Japan is home to about two dozen businesses over a thousand years old, including Keiunkan (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan) and Wasuke (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ichimonjiya-wasuke).

Osaka-based construction company Kongo Gumi is the oldest of those, and the oldest company in the entire world. Its history goes all the way back to 578 AD.

The founder of the company, Kongō Shigemitsu, was one of the three temple architects—Kongō, Hayami, and Nagamichi—recruited by Prince Shōtoku from the Korean kingdom of Baekje to build Shiten’nō-ji Temple, which was completed in 593. The company has since been associated with the temple and remains so to this day.

Unlike the Hōryū-ji temple complex in Ikaruga, Nara, Shiten’nō-ji has been destroyed several times throughout its history. In 1576, it was burned down by warlord Oda Nobunaga, and again during the Winter Siege of Osaka in 1614. Seven more fires as well as typhoons have since devastated it, and Kongo Gumi took charge of its reconstruction each time.

The company has also contributed to the construction of Osaka Castle, as well as the restorations of the Tayasu Gate at Edo Castle (Imperial Palace), the five-story pagoda at Kuon-ji Temple in Minobu, and the Kōbuntei teahouse in the Kairaku-en gardens in Mito.

As Kongo Gumi specializes in traditional architecture, it has had a hard time with the advent of the use of concrete in shrine and temple construction. It faced an uncertain future around 2005–2008, but somehow stood back up and returned to temple architecture and restoration.