Konosuke Matsushita

I find Konosuke Matsushita almost unreasonably inspiring, and I say that as someone who's allergic to corporate hero-worship. Think about the starting hand: dirt poor, frail health, pulled out of grade school at nine to be an apprentice in Osaka. From that he builds what becomes Panasonic and gets nicknamed the "god of management." What gets me isn't the empire, though, it's how he reframed his own weaknesses into strengths, leaning on others because he had to and turning that into a whole philosophy. The man literally poured a fortune into founding a school to train future politicians instead of buying himself a nicer life. And after all that success, his guiding phrase was basically "stay humble and open-minded." Business books that make you a little emotional are rare, but his do. A scrappy kid from Wakayama who stayed cool to the very end.

Konosuke Matsushita (1894–1989) was a Japanese industrialist who founded Matsushita Electric Works — the company that later became Panasonic — in Osaka in 1918, having left elementary school at age nine due to financial hardship and taught himself business while working as an apprentice and then an electrical worker. Despite starting with virtually no formal education or capital, he built one of the world's largest electronics corporations and became widely known in Japan as the "God of Management." Beyond business, he established the PHP Institute in 1946 to promote social prosperity through industry, and in 1979 donated seven billion yen of his personal fortune to found the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management. He received Japan's highest civilian decoration, the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers, in 1987, and authored numerous books on management philosophy throughout his career.

Name (English)

Konosuke Matsushita

Name (Japanese)

松下幸之助

Reading

まつした こうのすけ

Born

November 27, 1894 – April 27, 1989

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Sagittarius / Horse (午)

Origin

Wasa Village, Kaiso District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan (present-day Negi, Wakayama City)

Agency

Deceased

Agency history

Osaka Electric Light Co. (c. 1910–1917)
Matsushita Electric Works (founded by himself, 1918–)
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (1935–)

Active years

1918–1989

Occupation

Businessman / Entrepreneur / Author

Elementary school

Wasa Elementary School (dropped out)

Junior high

Did not advance

High school

Did not advance

University

Did not advance (honorary doctorates awarded by Waseda University and Doshisha University)

Debut

Founded Matsushita Electric Works in Osaka in 1918, beginning his career in the manufacture and sale of electrical fixtures.

Awards & achievements

• 1956 – Blue Ribbon Medal
• 1965 – Order of the Rising Sun, Second Class (with Gold and Silver Star)
• 1970 – Order of the Sacred Treasure, First Class
• 1981 – Order of the Rising Sun, First Class (Grand Cordon)
• 1987 – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers (highest decoration for a private citizen)

Timeline

1. 1894Born on November 27 in Wasa Village, Kaiso District, Wakayama Prefecture
2. 1903Left elementary school due to family financial hardship and went to Osaka as a live-in apprentice
3. 1910Joined Osaka Electric Light Co. as a wireman; promoted to inspector at the youngest age recorded
4. 1918Founded Matsushita Electric Works (the predecessor of Panasonic)
5. 1946Established the PHP Institute under the motto 'Peace and Happiness through Prosperity'
6. 1979Founded the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management with a personal donation of 7 billion yen
7. 1989Died on April 27 of bronchopneumonia at Matsushita Memorial Hospital in Moriguchi City, aged 94

Spouse

Mumeno Matsushita (married 1915, died 1993)

Children

First son Koichi (died in infancy); first daughter Sachiko. Adopted son-in-law Masaharu Matsushita, who became the second president.

Hobbies

• Tea ceremony
• Noh theater

Specialties

• Management
• Human resource development

Motto

Open-minded sincerity ("Sunao na kokoro")

• Official sitehttps://konosuke-matsushita.com/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%BE%E4%B8%8B%E5%B9%B8%E4%B9%8B%E5%8A%A9

Tags

• Businessman
• Panasonic Founder
• God of Management
• From Wakayama Prefecture
• PHP Institute
• Matsushita Institute of Government and Management
• Showa-era Entrepreneur

Last updated

2026-06-02

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