Birth: 1894

Painted by Shigetaka Sawada

Panasonic founder Konosuke Matsushita was born on November 27, 1894 in
Wasamura, a faming village that is now part of Wakayama City. His father
was a small landowner and prominent member of the community, and
Konosuke, the youngest of eight children, enjoyed a comfortable early
childhood. But the family's fortunes turned when his father lost his property
as a result of poor speculation on the commodities market, and the family
was forced to leave their farm and move to a small house in the city.
To help support the family, Konosuke was apprenticed to a hibachi (charcoal
brazier) store in Osaka a few months before he was to graduate from
elementary school.
Still only nine years old, Konosuke said goodbye to his mother at the train
station, and left on the long, lonely ride to the big city.

Apprenticeship in Osaka: beginning in 1904 at age

9
Konosuke's workday began at the crack of dawn with a careful cleaning of
the store. When the shop was spotless, he polished the hibachi brazier while
looking after his employer's children until it was, once again, time to fall
exhausted into bed.
However, when his first payday finally arrived, the single five-sen coin he
received seemed a veritable fortune, and made all the hard work worthwhile.
In less than a year, the hibachi shop went out of business, and Konosuke
found a new apprenticeship at a store selling bicycles, which, at the time,
were luxury items imported from the U.K. The bicycle shop also handled
small metalworking jobs, and he quickly learned to use a lathe and other
tools.
Treated as a member of his employer's family, Konosuke spent five happy
years there.
Although Konosuke considered leaving his apprenticeship for a job that would
allow him to take night classes and complete his education, his father
convinced him to stay at the bicycle shop, saying, "The skills you are
learning will ensure your future. Succeed as an entrepreneur, and you can
hire people who have an education."