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Nintendo headquarters 1889

Fusajiro Yamauchi purchased this building which became Nintendo's first headquarters in 1889.

Fusajiro Yamauchi (JP) was the founder of Nintendo in 1889. He had a wife and daughter and lived in Kyoto, Japan. His great-grandchild, Hiroshi Yamauchi, took over the company in the fifties.

History[]

Fusajiro Yamauchi was born on November 22, 1859. When the Japanese government lifted a ban on a card game known as Hanafuda, Fusajiro capitalized on this by establishing Nintendo Koppai, a company that would print Hanafuda cards. Whereas most card games featured numbers, Hanafuda was devoid of numerical symbols and instead had unique artwork. Hanafuda was introduced to Japan though wasn't too popular, and was generally thought to disappear as quickly as it arrived. Fusajiro Yamauchi, however, derived an idea to increase the game's popularity by developing cards with hand drawn illustrations. Fusajiro eventually retired in 1929 and deemed his son-in-law Sekiryo Kaneda his successor. In January 1940, Fusajiro passed away as a result of a stroke.

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