Fusajiro Yamauchi

Fusajirō Yamauchi (山内 房治郎, Yamauchi Fusajirō, November 22, 1859 – January 1, 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).

Fusajirō Yamauchi
山内 房治郎
1st President and Founder of Nintendo
In office September 23, 1889 – 1929
Succeeded by	Sekiryo Kaneda
Personal details
Born	(1859-11-22)November 22, 1859 Kyoto, Japan
Died	January 1, 1940(1940-01-01) (aged 80)
Cause of death	Stroke
Nationality	Japanese
Known for	Founder of Nintendo

Nintendo Koppai

On November 7, 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi opened the first “Hanafuda”[1] (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.[2][3] 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.

Retirement and death

Fusajiro departed from the company in 1929, 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.[4]

References

1. "Hanafuda". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
2. "N-Sider.com: Nintendo History Lesson". 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2018-09-22.
3. "Fusajiro Yamauchi - NNDB". NNDB. 2014. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
4. "Fusajiro Yamauchi - Founder of Nintendo". Classic Games.about.com. 2012-04-10. Retrieved 2012-08-05.