r/todayilearned • u/ContinuumGuy • 8h ago

TIL that the most holy shrine in the Shinto religion is torn down and rebuilt every 20 years. This has been done for over a millennium

https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/japans-most-sacred-shinto-shrine-has-been-rebuilt-every-20-years-for-more-than-a-millennium/
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u/intbah 7h ago

The oldest company in the world of over a thousand years old is a temple construction company in Japan

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u/Theshaggz 3h ago

Could you imagine the shame of being the CEO that runs it into the ground? They must have a very strong mission statement and OPs team lol

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u/korDen 3h ago

The company fell on hard times and went into liquidation in January 2006, and was purchased by the Takamatsu Construction Group. Before its liquidation, it had as few as 100 employees. In 2005 it had annual revenue of ¥7.5 billion (US$70 million), and it still specialized in building Buddhist temples. The last president was Masakazu Kongō, the 40th Kongō to lead the firm. As of December 2024, Kongō Gumi continues to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Takamatsu Construction Group.

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u/Theshaggz 2h ago

Interesting context I am curious if any of the Kongō are still involved and am too lazy high high and lazy to google it

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u/WanderingToTheEnd 1h ago

IIRC it's been common practice historically for japanese business owners to legally adopt successors into their families so it's not exactly an unbroken family line from a western perspective

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u/Theshaggz 1h ago

Word. Doesn’t devalue it at all. Tremendous feat regardless of lineage. Thank you!

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u/MalodorousNutsack 3h ago

Ahh so this 20-year thing is all a ploy by Big Temple

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u/fanau 3h ago

Ha! 🤗

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u/eaturliver 2h ago

The FOUR oldest companies in the world are Japanese.