When a business continues for
100 years it is still a business in a sense that it is mostly concerned with
its bottom line, customers, products etc. When a business continues for 200-300
years, it is usually something more – a living museum, full of artefacts and
stories related to them, where managers becomes custodians of tradition and
corporate memory. But what happens if a business continues for 1000 years? Hōshi Ryokan, a Japanese traditional inn
in the Awazu Onsen area is an example of such a business. It was founded in
718, which means that in 2018 will be exactly 1300-years old and for many years
was recognized by the Guinness Book of Record as the oldest hotel in the world. Hōshi Ryokan is not simply a hotel, it
is a deeply spiritual place where guests, who come to leave the everyday life
behind, have a chance to truly encounter the eternity in the form of the onsen spring that is endlessly flowing
from the rock. The 46th generation of owners seems not to be so much
concerned with making profit as with continuing to care and protect the
miraculous spring - just like priests guarding the temple. Therefore, in a
sense Hōshi Ryokan seems to be much
closer to a religious institution than a normal hotel or hospitality business…
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