Kazuo Inamori

Kazuo Inamori is one of those people who makes you rethink what "businessman" even means. He started Kyocera in 1959 with pocket change and a ceramics breakthrough, then casually went and founded what became KDDI just to shake up Japan's telecom monopoly. Most guys with that resume would be insufferable, but he spent his whole life preaching altruism, "do the right thing as a human being," and the famous formula where mindset multiplies effort and ability. Then he came out of retirement in his late 70s to rescue a bankrupt Japan Airlines for basically free, and actually pulled it off. Oh, and somewhere in there he became a Buddhist monk. I find him genuinely moving, less a tycoon than a stubbornly sincere teacher who cared more about how you live than how you profit.

Kazuo Inamori (January 21, 1932 – August 24, 2022) was a Japanese industrialist and entrepreneur born in Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture. In 1959 he founded Kyoto Ceramic Co., Ltd. (now Kyocera Corporation) with startup capital of three million yen, and in 1984 he established the telecom venture that would become KDDI Corporation. He is also widely credited with leading the turnaround of Japan Airlines as its chairman from 2010 to 2013, after the carrier had filed for bankruptcy protection. A prolific author on management philosophy, he was revered in Japan as the "god of management" and received the World Entrepreneur Award in 2009.

Name (English)

Kazuo Inamori

Name (Japanese)

稲盛和夫

Reading

いなもりかずお

Born

January 21, 1932 – August 24, 2022

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aquarius / Monkey (申)

Origin

Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan

Blood type

Private

Height

Private

Agency

(Deceased)

Agency history

Kyocera Corporation — President and Representative Director (1959–1982)
Kyocera Corporation — Chairman and Representative Director (1982–1997)
Kyocera Corporation — Director and Honorary Chairman (1997–2005)
Kyocera Corporation — Honorary Chairman (2005–2022)
KDDI Corporation — Director and Honorary Chairman (2000–)
Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. — Chairman and Representative Director (2010–2013)

Active years

1959–2022

Occupation

Businessman / Entrepreneur / Author

Elementary school

Kagoshima Municipal Nishida Elementary School

Junior high

Kagoshima Private Middle School (old system)

High school

Kagoshima Municipal Kagoshima Tamatsukuri High School

University

Kagoshima University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Applied Chemistry

Debut

1959 — Founded Kyoto Ceramic Co., Ltd. (now Kyocera Corporation) with startup capital of three million yen

Awards & achievements

• 1968 — 1st Small and Medium Enterprise Research Center Award
• 1972 — 18th Okochi Memorial Production Prize
• 1974 — 16th Agency for Science and Technology Director-General Award
• 2009 — World Entrepreneurship Forum, World Entrepreneur Award
• 2019 — Honorary Citizen of Kagoshima Prefecture (first-ever recipient)

Timeline

1. 1932Born in Kagoshima City
2. 1955Graduated from Kagoshima University (Applied Chemistry) and joined Shofu Industries Co., Ltd.
3. 1959Founded Kyoto Ceramic Co., Ltd. (now Kyocera) and assumed the role of President and Representative Director
4. 1984Established Dai-ni-Denden Kikaku Co., Ltd. (now KDDI); established the Inamori Foundation and created the international Kyoto Prize
5. 1997Entered the Buddhist priesthood and was ordained at Rinzai sect Enpuku-ji temple
6. 2000KDDI Corporation formed through the merger of DDI, KDD, and IDO; assumed role of Director and Honorary Chairman
7. 2010Assumed the chairmanship of the bankrupt Japan Airlines and led its reconstruction
8. 2013Stepped down as Chairman of Japan Airlines
9. 2022Died of old age at his home in Kyoto at age 90

Spouse

Asako Inamori (married 1958)

Children

Three daughters (Shinobu, Chiharu, Mizuho)

Parents

Private

Siblings

Private

Hobbies

• Reading
• Exploration of management philosophy

Specialties

• Management
• Ceramics technology

Motto

Altruistic mind / Live each day with utmost sincerity

• Official sitehttps://www.kyocera.co.jp/inamori/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A8%B2%E7%9B%9B%E5%92%8C%E5%A4%AB

Tags

• From Kagoshima Prefecture
• Founder of Kyocera
• Founder of KDDI
• God of Management
• Amoeba Management
• Kyoto Prize
• Japan Airlines Turnaround
• Businessman

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.