Oldest Family Run Business

September 30, 2009 4:47 PM

So how long have you been running your business? The Houshi Onsen in Komatsu, Japan. About a 2.5 hour train ride north from Kyoto is the Houshi Onsen complex was founded in 718. The legend states that the god of Mount Hakusan visited a Buddhist priest and told him to uncover an underground hot spring in a nearby village. He found the hot spring and asked his disciple, a woodcutter’s son named Gengoro Sasakiri, to build and operate a spa on the site. His family has run a hotel in Komatsu ever since. The structure houses 450 people in 100 rooms. For generations, Houshi proprietors have borne the name Zengoro Houshi. The current proprietor is the 46th Zengoro!
posted by somnambulist (27 comments total)

Yeah, suck it Kongo Gumi!
posted by BrotherCaine at 5:14 PM on September 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

the 46th Zengoro

Pretty good, but how about the 77th Earl of Groan?.
posted by doubtfulpalace at 5:55 PM on September 30, 2009

the god of Mount Hakusan visited a Buddhist priest and told him to uncover an underground hot spring in a nearby village...

Yeah, but a partnership of local river sprites contributed most of the startup funds and still owns a 49% share. They're making a fortune.
posted by PlusDistance at 6:02 PM on September 30, 2009 [3 favorites]

Take that, upstart Nintendo! You were only founded in 1889.
posted by mullingitover at 6:02 PM on September 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yeah, suck it Kongo Gumi!

Damn! From the link:

Besides the Shitennoji Temple in Osaka, Kongo Gumi is also famous for building the Horyuji Temple in Nara

That's like… "Along with Falling Water, Frank Lloyd Wright is also famous for building the Roman Forum." I mean, not exactly, but you get the idea.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:19 PM on September 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

So how long have you been running your business?

Feels like I've been sitting at this goddamned computer for a million years.

*checks clock*

*sigh*
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:19 PM on September 30, 2009 [5 favorites]

Related: Wikipedia’s list of oldest companies.

These things make you feel so small.
posted by stilist at 6:22 PM on September 30, 2009

Sorry, but I'm not gonna be impressed until I hear that the daughters of the Houshi family protect Japan from oni, tengu, and youkai by throwing o-fuda at them.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 6:40 PM on September 30, 2009

Man...imagine being the Zengoro who wants to be a professional chef or ballet dancer...that's gotta suck.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 7:24 PM on September 30, 2009 [4 favorites]

According to that wiki list, Genda Shigyo has been in the paper bag business since 771, which I find oddly hilarious. What did people put in paper bags in 771? Silk kimonos? Samurai swords? Sigh... probably just fast food takeout, same as today.
posted by Quietgal at 7:24 PM on September 30, 2009 [2 favorites]

Well, yeah - I mean, you name your kid "Zengoro Houshi," what did you expect them to do when they grow up?
posted by Pronoiac at 8:04 PM on September 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

Cool link, thanks for sharing.
posted by HighTechUnderpants at 8:35 PM on September 30, 2009

There was another business that was older, but speculated like crazy in the 1990s and had to get absorbed by another one. A shame.

I intend to stay in this hotel!
posted by jscott at 8:38 PM on September 30, 2009

Oh, and the other trick in here - males marrying into the family had to take the name of this more successful family.
posted by jscott at 8:39 PM on September 30, 2009

I can't imagine the pressure on the 47th generation running a family business in that kind of culture. Failure must be an unimaginable horror.
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:55 PM on September 30, 2009

With that kind of longevity and divine backing, you could play a subtle, century-spanning game of cultural subversion, gradually turning Japan into a place where "onsen" is practically synonymous with "vacation," and the norm is to visit one at least once or twice a year.

Wait a minute...
posted by No-sword at 9:01 PM on September 30, 2009 [2 favorites]

The school I went to for a couple of years in the UK - Richard Hale, in Hertford - was founded in 1617. As a Canadian that kind of rocked me a little, giving support to the notion that the difference between Europeans and North Americans is that in North America 100 years is old while in Europe 100 miles is far.
posted by salishsea at 9:50 PM on September 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

[looks for them on yelp, doesn't find them, picks a different hotel]
posted by davejay at 10:42 PM on September 30, 2009

the difference between Europeans and North Americans is that in North America 100 years is old while in Europe 100 miles is far

That's funny. I felt the same way when I first visited a friend at college in England. He was attending University College at Oxford (founded ~1250). I remember sitting in his dorm room, staring at the stone walls, thinking, "This dorm room was constructed before my country was even found." Not founded, mind you. Found.

Love that feeling.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:23 AM on October 1, 2009 [2 favorites]

The Wikipedia list of oldest companies is interesting. But I wonder if it would be possible to find anything even older - perhaps not under continuous family ownership but rather producing the same product in the same place? Somewhere like Damascus - continuously inhabited for at least 10,000 years might prove a fertile hunting ground. Farms and vineyards might fit the bill.
posted by rongorongo at 5:28 AM on October 1, 2009

I love the fact that going through the list of oldest companies a lot of them seem to be oriented or related to the service industry, specifically hospitality and foodservice. Serious "same as it ever was" kind of moment as in; if you can pay somebody else to do it, why the hell not. Like I imagine some dude attaching a note to a messenger pigeon that says, "My fairest wife: I spent all day flogging apostates and heretics, I really don't feel like 'pease porridge in the pot, nine days old.' I'll pick up a roast squab on the way home."
posted by kkokkodalk at 8:40 AM on October 1, 2009

I've stayed in hotels that look and feel like they haven't been refurbished since the year 718. Does that count?
posted by MuffinMan at 8:46 AM on October 1, 2009

Civil_Disobedient: "Not founded, mind you. Found."

University College is over 10,000 years old?
posted by mullingitover at 9:22 AM on October 1, 2009 [1 favorite]

"But, I don't WANT to be an elf. I . . . I want to be . . . a DENTIST!"
posted by jfwlucy at 9:51 AM on October 1, 2009

There is something uniquely Japanese with that list of old companies, and after living there for 3 years you really get to see how the culture really helps these companies staying "in the family" for so many generations. And how many owning a business like this is not just a way of making a profit, but providing something to the consumer that fills owners with pride, and sense this is not just for cold hard cash.
Makes a big difference from New Zealand where I come from, where even our oldest companies are like "fly by night" operations in comparison to longevity of those on the list.
posted by Merlin The Happy Pig at 4:22 PM on October 1, 2009

University College is over 10,000 years old?

I said my country. Not this country.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:25 PM on October 1, 2009

> providing something to the consumer that fills owners with pride

Which is why a 1200-year old paper bag company is so hilarious. 12 centuries of making paper bags. I'll allow they must be pretty good at it by now, but still ...
posted by Quietgal at 5:23 PM on October 1, 2009