Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan

The hot spring inn Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan in Yamanashi, Japan, was founded in 705 CE and is still run by the same family line. It is listed by Guinness as the oldest hotel.

Claims of the oldest company depend on the definition used.

Context

The inn is located in a mountain valley in Hayakawa, Yamanashi Prefecture, and draws on natural hot spring water. Its recorded founding date of 705 CE is said to come from its own family and local history, and Guinness World Records has recognised it as the world's oldest hotel.

The inn is reportedly run by the same family across around fifty generations, with owners passing the business down through a long unbroken line. Traditional stories say that famous medieval figures bathed there, though such accounts are not all documented.

The record is narrow in scope. Some other businesses claim older origins, such as the Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi, founded in 578 CE, but it later became part of another company and no longer operates independently. Whether a business counts as the 'oldest' depends on the definition of continuity, ownership and type of business.

The inn is also a reminder of why Japan has so many very old family firms, as the country has a tradition of passing businesses to heirs and has relatively many shops, inns and brewers that are centuries old.