Konosuke Matsushita

Based on his “tap water philosophy”—the idea that producers should fill society with goods and eliminate hardship—Konosuke Matsushita (Matsushita Konosuke) founded and ran Matsushita Electric Appliance Manufacturing Works.
Starting with light bulb sockets, the company developed and manufactured many household products, including bicycle lamps, electric irons, and dry-cell batteries.
As a result, home appliances that were still rare at the time spread throughout Japan.

Today, the five-day workweek is standard.
But in the 1960s, when Matsushita was running Matsushita Electric Industrial, a one-day weekend was the norm.
Konosuke Matsushita was the first to introduce a two-day weekend at a company in Japan.

His goal was higher productivity.
He believed, “To win the international competition ahead, we must improve efficiency.
But greater efficiency also brings more physical and mental fatigue.
To recover from that fatigue, we need one extra day of rest.”

That said, he didn’t want employees to rest for both days. He asked them to use “one day for rest, and the other for learning and self-cultivation.”
That was because the purpose of the five-day workweek was, above all, to improve productivity.
He introduced the system even before it was specified under Japan’s labor standards, showing the foresight he’s known for.

Konosuke Matsushita was born in Wakayama Prefecture in 1894.
Because his father was a small landowner, he grew up relatively well-off, but a failed rice-market investment left the family in debt and the Matsushita household went bankrupt.
The family moved to Wakayama City and started a geta shop, but the business struggled.
Matsushita was forced to leave school in the fourth grade and was sent to work as an apprentice at a hibachi shop to help support the family.
When the shop closed after three months, he moved to a bicycle shop.
There, he was taught professional manners—from how to bow, to grooming, speech, and proper etiquette.

Five years into his apprenticeship, Matsushita saw electric railway lines being built and became convinced the electrical industry would grow. He joined Osaka Electric Light (now part of Kansai Electric Power).
He advanced steadily thanks to strong performance, but frustration grew when a socket he improved wasn’t recognized by his superiors. He also worried about the future due to fragile health and marriage, and felt he needed a clear plan.
Amid these concerns, his father’s words—“Make your way through business”—pushed him to go independent.
At the time, removing a light bulb was dangerous and usually required a specialist, so he started a business to develop a socket that anyone could use.

With only limited funds, he went independent but couldn’t afford machinery.
He also couldn’t rent a factory or office, so he used space in the rental home where he lived as his workplace.
Still, he was fortunate with people—he brought in his wife’s younger brother (who would later become the founder of Sanyo Electric), and received support from colleagues from his Osaka Electric Light days.

He lacked knowledge of how to make the molded material needed for the copper parts of his socket, so he picked up scraps from a molding factory to study, and continued experimenting with help from former colleagues. Eventually, he completed the socket.
But it didn’t sell at all.
Then, in the middle of his disappointment, he received a large order for insulating plates needed for electric fans.
With steady repeat orders, his cash flow stabilized.
With finances improving, he decided to seriously pursue electrical product development and rented an office to establish Matsushita Electric Appliance Manufacturing Works.
After that, his attachment plug sold well because it was both affordable and high-quality.
The two-light plug he devised next also sold strongly, and the company’s reputation grew.

Year by year, the company’s reputation and sales rose, and the first office he rented became too small.
To expand further, he built a headquarters and factory in Osaka.
He continued to grow the company through various initiatives, such as developing groundbreaking new products and introducing a dealer system.
He also worked hard on management innovation, including adopting a divisional structure to improve productivity.
As part of these reforms, he established Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. in 1935.
By introducing a decentralization system, he set up nine subsidiaries by business division, forming a corporate group.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. grew steadily, but the situation changed with the outbreak of World War II.
As national policy mobilized all industrial activity for wartime production, the Japanese military requested the company to manufacture military supplies.
It began with electronic equipment such as aircraft radios, portable radios, and radar, and by the end of the war it was producing even wooden boats and wooden aircraft.
Japan ultimately lost the war, and World War II ended.
The company returned to consumer products, but restrictions under GHQ policies and directives put Matsushita in a difficult position.

After the war, GHQ restrictions—including asset freezes and designation as a zaibatsu family—threatened Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. with dissolution.
Matsushita himself was also purged from public office and pressured to step down.
However, thanks to a petition movement by employees, business partners, distributors, and retailers, he avoided the purge.

After overcoming these hardships, Matsushita rebuilt and grew the company again through ongoing development and management innovation.
In 1961, at age 65, he became chairman and stepped back from the front lines.
At 80, he retired and became an advisor.
After retiring, he invested a huge personal fortune—70 billion yen—to establish the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, contributing to politics by nurturing future leaders.
In 1989, at age 94, he passed away after an illness.
Having built Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. and its group companies in his lifetime, he is enshrined as a deity at the Konosuke Matsushita Shrine within Tsubaki Okami Yashiro.

A collection of short reflections written from Matsushita’s personal experiences and deep insights into life.
Read for more than 40 years, it’s a bestseller many people consider a lifelong companion.

Written with the hope that, instead of living in darkness while blaming and criticizing one another, we share warmth, forgive, encourage each other, and move forward.
The book emphasizes the importance of a “sincere heart,” and explores how to cultivate and strengthen it in daily life.

While apprenticing at a bicycle shop, Matsushita was often sent to buy cigarettes.
When he learned that buying 20 at once came with one extra for free, he realized bulk-buying could save time—and effectively save the cost of one cigarette.
After he started buying in bulk, he kept the money saved (equivalent to one cigarette) as his own profit and saved up small change.
It’s striking that he practiced key business habits—avoiding waste and cutting expenses—from such a young age.

After developing the “National Lamp” bicycle lamp, Matsushita used a bold promotion no one had tried: he gave away 10,000 units to shops for free to raise awareness.
But the lamps required dry-cell batteries, meaning he needed batteries to include in the giveaway.
He went to the battery supplier’s president and asked, “Please give me 10,000 batteries for free,” but the request was dismissed as absurd.
Still, Matsushita didn’t give up. He persuaded him by saying, “The National Lamp is a good product. If we give away 10,000, many people will learn about it and it will sell. And if it sells, batteries will sell too.”

Once the giveaway began, orders started pouring in after about 1,000 units were distributed. By year’s end, the number of batteries purchased exceeded more than twice what he had promised the supplier’s president.
Not only did he come up with an unprecedented promotion, he also managed to negotiate an almost impossible condition to make it happen—proof he was truly exceptional.

A corporate museum renovated during Panasonic’s 100th anniversary year. The site includes the Konosuke Matsushita Museum, the Manufacturing Museum, and Sakura Hiroba.
The Konosuke Matsushita Museum lets visitors retrace the founder’s 94-year life.

Nishinomaru Garden, said to have been created by Tokugawa Yorinobu—the founder of the Kishu Tokugawa clan—on the west bailey of Wakayama Castle, is beloved as Momijidani (Maple Valley). Koshō-an is a sukiya-style tea house there, with a wooden structure and a copper-sheeted roof. It was donated in 1973 by the late Konosuke Matsushita, an honorary citizen, to commemorate the garden’s restoration, and was named by combining “kō” (crimson) from “Momijidani” and “matsu” (pine) from Matsushita.
Inside is a ryūrei-style seating area where you can enjoy tea while seated on chairs, so even first-timers can casually experience matcha and traditional sweets.