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Japan’s Temple-Builder Kongō Gumi, Has Survived Nearly 1,500 Years

Image from New York Public Library, via Wikimedia Commons If you visit Osaka, you'll be urged to see two old buildings in particular: Osaka Castle and Shitennō-ji (above), Japan's first Buddhist temple.

In behold­ing both, you’ll behold the work of con­struc­tion firm Kongō Gumi(金剛組), the old­est con­tin­u­ous­ly run com­pa­ny in the world. “World War II brought sig­nif­i­cant changes to Japan, and the demand for tem­ple con­struc­tion waned,” says the tourism com­pa­ny Toki. Here time at the head of the com­pa­ny illus­trates its long-held will­ing­ness to grant lead­er­ship duties not just to first sons, but to fam­i­ly mem­bers best suit­ed to do the job; for that rea­son, the his­to­ry of the Kongō clan involves many sons-in-law delib­er­ate­ly sought out for that pur­pose.

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