What Is the Oldest Company in the World
The company most often named as the world’s oldest is Japan’s Kongō Gumi (578 AD, ~1,447 years), founded by a Korean from Baekje. After more than 1,400 years as an independent family business, it became a subsidiary of the Takamatsu Construction Group in 2006, though its name and tradition live on. Temple-building and family succession made Japan home to half the world’s century-old firms.
What is the oldest company still operating in the world?
Some ancient European winery? A British bank? A German family firm?
The actual answer is rather unexpected.
It must be somewhere in Europe with a long history.
A winery, a bank, or a family-owned hotel.
The top left is a timeline of about 1,447 years, from 578 to 2026. Move the year slider to follow Kongō Gumi’s founding (578) → Hōryū-ji → the changing eras (Heian, Edo, Meiji) → the Takamatsu acquisition (2006) → today. Use the building toggle to see the Hōryū-ji silhouette.
The bottom left shows the craftsmen’s migration from Baekje to Japan. Turn on the Baekje-origin toggle and the journey of three masters from the 6th-century Korean peninsula to Japan appears. On the right is a bar comparison of 100-year-old companies by country, where Japan dominates at around 33,000. Use the country toggle to highlight each.
Use the year slider to follow about 1,447 years from Kongō Gumi’s founding in 578 to 2026, the Baekje-origin toggle for the craftsmen’s migration from Baekje to Japan, and the country toggle to compare 100-year-old companies by country (Japan ≈ 33,000).
The world’s oldest company = [Kongō Gumi (金剛組)] in Osaka, Japan. Founded in 578 AD. As of 2026, it has been operating for about 1,447 years.
More striking is its origin. In the 6th century, Prince Shōtoku of Japan invited three master temple builders from Baekje, an ancient Korean kingdom, to construct Buddhist temples. One of them was [Kongō Shigemitsu (金剛重光)] = a Korean from Baekje. So Kongō Gumi was founded by a Korean.
One of the first temples Kongō Gumi built was [Hōryū-ji (法隆寺)]. It is recognized as the oldest existing wooden building in the world.
For more than 1,400 years, Kongō Gumi specialized in temple construction as an independent family business, passed down through generations. In 2006, facing financial trouble, it was acquired by the Takamatsu Construction Group and became a subsidiary. That ended its long independence, but the name and the temple-building tradition carry on.
Kongō Gumi is not an isolated case. Japan has around 33,000 companies older than 100 years = more than 50% of the world’s total. Companies older than 500 years = about 30, mostly Japanese. Companies older than 1,000 years = 7 to 9, almost all Japanese.
Cascade: a tradition of temple construction (long projects + precision craft) · family business succession culture (the iemoto system) · a stable social structure (preserved across generations) · avoidance of conflict + craftsman ethics.
An old company is not just time. It is the result of social structure.
Hōryū-jiAt Hōryū-ji, you can see wooden architecture built by Kongō Gumi 1,400 years ago.
Japan’s old shopsJapan has 7 to 9 ryokan, sweet shops, and breweries still operating from over 1,000 years ago.
KoreaKorea’s oldest company is Doosan (1896) · 130 years.
EuropeEurope’s oldest is Staffelter Hof (862 · a German winery) · about 1,163 years.
Surviving long is not chance. It is the accumulation of society and culture.