Fusajirō Yamauchi | |
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山内 房治郎 | |
1st President and Founder of Nintendo | |
In office September 23, 1889 – 1929 |
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Succeeded by | Sekiryo Kaneda |
Personal details | |
Born |
Kyoto, Japan |
November 22, 1859
Died | January 1, 1940 | (aged 80)
Cause of death | Stroke |
Nationality | Japanese |
Fusajiro Yamauchi (山内 房治郎 Yamauchi, Fusajirō, November 22, 1859 – January 1940) was a Japanese entrepreneur who founded the company that is now known as Nintendo. Yamauchi lived in Kyoto, Japan and had a wife and a daughter, Tei Yamauchi (who later married future Nintendo president and Fusajiro Yamauchi's successor, Sekiryo Kaneda).
On November 6, 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi opened the first “Hanafuda” (flower cards) card shop called “Nintendo Koppai” during a time when the Japanese government was banning playing cards from the hands of the public, due to them being tied to gambling, with the exception of Yamauchi's playing cards. With the huge success he had in selling these cards, he rapidly began expanding and opened another card shop in Osaka. He later went on to create more card games.
Fusajiro retired in 1929 at the age of 70, leaving his son-in-law Sekiryo Kaneda (whose name had changed to Sekiryo Yamauchi) in charge of the company. In the next eleven years Fusajiro remained out of the business until he had a stroke, which led to his death in 1940.