The company that has survived in 1442 and has survived from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the present, is still strong! The world's longest-surviving company, for more than 1,400 years, has only done one thing to win the respect of the Japanese people! A century-old shop is nothing, this enterprise has existed in 1442, 3 years older than the Sui Dynasty!
In 578, 1442, China was in the midst of a period of chaos between the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In that year, several major events occurred in the world, one of which was that the Northern Zhou Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Wu of the Northern Dynasty, Yuwen Yong, died of illness, and his son Yuwen Yun took the throne for Emperor Gaozong and Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou. According to historical records, Yuwen Yun was an absurd and unscrupulous emperor, indulging in wine, tyrannical and absurd, overhauling the palace, and indiscriminately punishing him. After reigning for only one year, in order to find himself happy, He was crown prince Yuwen Yan and proclaimed himself Emperor Tianyuan (still in control of the imperial power).
Yuwen Yun called the empress dowager, widely selected beautiful women to enrich the harem, the five empresses in the palace stood side by side, indulged in wine, frolicked, and their health deteriorated day by day. To be emperor for one year and empress dowager for one year, he will die at the age of twenty-two. The following year, his father-in-law Yang Jian, the Duke of Sui, usurped the throne and established the Sui Dynasty, marking the demise of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
In the same year, Europe was also a year of great events, and with the death of Justinian's nephew Justinian II, the slave regime of the Eastern Roman Empire collapsed, and the whole of Byzantium fell into chaos.
Across the sea from China, Japan gave birth to a private company specializing in temple construction and maintenance, The Kongo Group Co., Ltd. At the time of the founding of the King Kong Group, China was in the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and three years later, in 581, the Sui Dynasty was established on behalf of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, which was an old company with a longer history than the Sui Dynasty.
In 578 AD, the sixth year of Emperor Minda of Japan, Prince Seongtoku, in order to celebrate the destruction of the abolition of the 6th Century period of the abolition of the Buddhist official Monobe Shouya, prayed to the God of The Four Heavenly Kings, blessed Buddhism and believers, and recruited the craftsman Yogi Shigemitsu from Baekje, Korea, to build the Shitennoji Temple in Osaka City. Yanagi set up his own team, which was for the King Kong group.
The Kongo Group is a family business of the Ryu clan, whose construction skills have been passed down from generation to generation, and the main business is the construction of Buddhist temples. In 607 AD, another Horyu-ji Temple (Horyu-ji Temple, also known as Banyu-ji Temple, located in The town of Banyu, Uzumaki-gun, Nara, Japan, was built by Prince Seitoku in the Asuka period) built by the King of Shōtoku in the Asuka period), reaching the peak of Japanese wooden architecture. Horyu-ji Temple and Shitennoji Temple are two of the historical heritage sites that represent Japanese architecture, and their construction methods are still preserved in the "Compilation of Construction Methods" of the Kongo Group. The descendants of the Ryu clan are also highly regarded for the construction of the temple, and the Vajrayogini group formed by them has been passed down to the 40th generation. The descendants of the Yanagi clan are revered by the Japanese people for more than a thousand years, focusing only on the construction of temples.
Modern businesses are all about creating centuries-old stores, but this Japanese company has been a thousand-year-old store since its inception in 1442. What is the basis of their survival?
First, introduce an internal competition mechanism. The head of the first generation of the King Kong group is called "Don Lord", which is equivalent to the position of president. Although the Kongo Group is a private enterprise, it is not a backwater within the enterprise, and the corporate structure of the Kongo Group is divided into multiple groups under the "main hall", about 5 to 8 people as a group, and each group maintains its independence and competes with each other. The group will focus on improving the inherent technology, and when the order is received, headquarters will assess the capabilities of each group to determine which group will undertake the work. The result of the competition is the continuous updating of technology and the excellence of craftsmanship, for example, they can build a cement column like a wooden column, which is unattainable by many builders.
Second, focus on the core business - building temples with the most traditional craftsmanship. Whether it's a boom or a bust, they see focusing on their core business as the way to survive forever. For example, the Kongo family has twice completed the restoration and design of the "Hobuntei" in Mito Kaikuen Park (known as Japan's Three Famous Gardens along with Kanazawa Kanazawa Kanakuen and Okayama Korakuen).
However, it is not easy to focus on one thing for more than a thousand years, because some external factors will affect the survival of the enterprise. The Kongo group has encountered several crises that almost capsized the ship:
The first was after the Meiji Restoration in the 19th century, when the anti-Buddhist movement in Japan led to the destruction of many temples and the dismal operation of the Kongo group.
The second time was in 1934, when the Kongo group passed to the 37th generation, the hereditary heirs had no intention of operating, and the family had to appoint the wife of the 37th generation grandson as the "master" to avoid the Kongo group.
The third time was during World War II, when the King Kong group almost closed its doors because of the war, and the tenacious company eventually survived the war by making military wooden boxes.
One of the biggest crises occurred after japan's bubble economy burst in the 1990s. In 1955, in addition to building temples and gardens, Kongo Group Transformation Co., Ltd. began to undertake general buildings, but the act of over-expansion eventually led to huge debts. Beginning in the 1990s, Japan's bubble economy burst and the Kongo Group was heavily indebted, and finally in 2006 it was announced that it was liquidated, and the assets were taken over by Takamatsu Construction's subsidiary of the same name, "Kongo Group", which was created in November 2005.
In January 2006, the reborn Kongo Group gave up the business of real estate construction and returned to the old business to build a temple. Today, the King Kong Group Company is still alive and well, the longest surviving company in the world, and I hope that under the erosion of the new era, this myth can continue!