 When talking about the world's oldest company, I'm gonna have to define what exactly a company is. And I don't mean any of these, though they're all worthy definitions. I'm talking about this. I'm gonna use the Wikipedia definition of the word company, meaning a legal entity made up of an association of people, be they natural, legal, or a mixture of both, for carrying on a commercial or industrial enterprise. In other words, a business. Realistically, it's pretty much impossible to know who opened up the first business ever. Humans started bartering things as far back as 150,000 BC. In 5000 BC, humans started using metallic objects to represent value, and only in 700 BC did the Lydians start using a standardized coinage. Despite all that, we'll never know who it was who first flipped that open sign and started selling the first food, or jewelry, or pottery, or whatever. It's for this reason that whenever we're talking about the first company ever created, there's no way of knowing. But we do know what the oldest company is. I mean, companies don't last that long though. They go under all the time. Compare your hometown today to how it was 10 years ago and chances are, a lot of the businesses have come and gone. Depressions, recessions, and other economic downturns take a toll on everyone, including large corporations. Another factor to consider is that these days a lot of companies just can't keep up with the changing technology, Radio Shack, Sears, Kmart, Blockbuster. Today, these names have become practically synonymous with bankruptcy. Thanks to the booming industry of e-commerce, the brick and mortar store has become obsolete, replaced with online purchases that have proved to be more cost efficient, time efficient, and all around more convenient than their traditional counterpart. That being said, other companies that have done well in the past are doing just fine today. To put things into perspective, Walmart, founded in 1962, is celebrating their 57th anniversary this year. Nearly 60 years. That's no small feat, but it's in no way the oldest company ever made. Let's go back a little bit more. 70 years before that, Abercrombie & Fitch was founded in 1892 as an outfitter for the upperclassmen outdoors type. The 1800s were a long time ago, but 93 years before that, in 1799, J.P. Morgan Chasenko was founded by John Pierre Pomp Morgan, and would become the sixth largest bank in the world and the first largest in the United States. 197 years before that, in 1602, the Dutch East India Company was founded, and it was the first ever company to go public, meaning that it issued bonds and stock to the general public, becoming the first company to ever go on to a stock exchange. Becoming the first public company ever is a huge feat, but it's not quite the first ever. Let's go back 130 years. Between 1472 and 1489, six banks were founded in Italy during the Renaissance. Several of these banks still operate today. Renaissance Italy is generally considered the forefather of modern banking, but still, this far back, it's not the oldest company. So how far back do we have to go? 1300s? 1200s? 900s? You may be surprised, but the oldest company in the world is Gongogumi, a Japanese construction company founded in 578 AD, 1441 years ago. 578 AD was a really long time ago. As a point of reference, around the same time, according to legend, Arthur Pendragon led the Britons to victory over the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Baden. The Romans were waging war with the Persians. The Kingdom of the Franks was founded by King Clovis I, and the Sui dynasty reunites China. The founder, Sige Mitsukongo, was actually a Korean immigrant from Baekje. He was a skilled temple builder who was invited to Japan by Prince Shotoku, son of Emperor Yomei, the 31st Emperor of Japan. Prince Shotoku was famously a Buddhist himself, and helped spread it throughout Japan. At the time, Buddhism was having a massive surge in popularity, starting in India and spreading eastward towards Korea, particularly in Baekje, where Gongo was from, and finally arriving in Japan. Buddhism became so popular in Japan that Buddhist temples were in great demand from the people, temples with which the Japanese architects weren't familiar. And so, Gongo started his business, Gongogumi, which was commissioned to build the first Japanese Buddhist temple, Shtenoji in Osaka. After the death of Sige Mitsukongo, Gongogumi continued, passed down from father to son, or daughter or son-in-law, always staying within the family line and still retaining their master craftsmanship throughout the centuries. As Buddhism continued to grow in Japan, so did the need for Buddhist temples, gates, and other buildings. A thousand years after its founding, in 1583, Gongogumi was once again commissioned to construct the now famous Osaka Castle, which continues to stand proud today. 500 years later during World War II, they stopped their temple construction in order to prepare coffins for the many fallen in the war. Afterward, they had much work to do in the reconstruction of Japan, after years and years of conflict. And so they continued on work through the 20th century, and enjoyed the economic miracle of the 80s for a time, until the entire country was hit by the financial bubble burst of the early 90s. It turns out, there's only so much work he can do in the Buddhist temple market, especially if you've been doing it for nearly a millennia and a half, and especially when fewer and fewer Japanese people are turning to religion. The company's crushing debt forced it to go into liquidation in 2006, after which it was bought out by the Takamatsu Construction Group. Kanji Ogawa, the president of Takamatsu, stated that, there was some sentiment involved. It's true, if the company had gone under, all that experience and all that wonderful history would have scattered to the winds and gone to waste. Today, Gongogumi continues as Gongogumi Engineering Company Limited, a subsidiary of Takamatsu Construction Group Limited, and you can access the website here. The president of Gongogumi is Masakazu Kongo, the 50th Kongo in the long family line to preside over this ancient family business. With almost 1500 years of experience under its belt, the company continues onward, towards whatever may lie ahead. Something you might find surprising is that Gongogumi is not an anomaly on the list of oldest companies still in existence. In fact, the five oldest companies are all Japanese, with a bunch of others lower on the list. The question is why? The answer lies in the very nature of Japanese culture. As modern and cutting edge of their technology is today, family and tradition both hold a special place in their hearts. Companies are often passed down from father to son, or son-in-law. In this way, every time the head of a company passes, a younger member of the family takes its place, being groomed from an early age. This allows the company to be led by someone with a fresh perspective, and enables them to easily adapt to the changing times. In turn, the head of companies tend to have great commitment to the family business and desire to honor their family more than anything else. Longevity, carrying on the family name, is of the utmost importance, and more than anything else, the longevity of Gongogumi is a testament to this. If you enjoyed watching this video and want to see more interesting content, hit the thumbs up and subscribe to The Asian Theory. And remember, Japan is all about the respect.