Fusajiro Yamauchi

Fusajiro Yamauchi (山内 房治郎 "Yamauchi Fusajirō", November 22, 1859 – January 1940) was the founder of the company that is now known as Nintendo Company Limited. Yamauchi lived in Kyoto, Japan and had a daughter, Tei Yamauchi (who later married future Nintendo president and Fusajiro Yamauchi's successor, Sekiryo Kaneda). Fusajiro has been somehow related to every president of Nintendo except the most recent, Satoru Iwata (who took over for Hiroshi Yamauchi, Fusajiro Yamauchi' great-grandson, in 2002).

Business

Fusajiro Yamauchi began his business under the name "Nintendo Koppai" in 1889. The company made Japanese playing cards. The cards, known as hanafuda, daitoryo, or president, came in decks of 48. Each card was hand made using bark from mulberry (or mitsu-mata) trees. He sold the cards in two different shops in Japan; one in Kyoto and one in Osaka. Nintendo Koppai soon became a runaway success, forcing Yamauchi to hire additional help so he could produce enough cards to keep up with the demand, which continued to grow.

Retirement

Fusajiro Yamauchi retired in 1929. His son-in-law, Sekiryo Kaneda, took over his company. Yamauchi was killed in 1940, during the World War II era. Although not related to the war, the specific cause of death is still (at least publicly) unknown due to the limited resources and poor documentation that accompanied wartime.

Descendants

Fusajiro is the great-grandfather of former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi.