Although companies are doubtlessly secular entities engaged in economic activities, in Japan major companies (kaishas) have religious dimensions. For example, kaisha constructs small Shinto shrines on the roof of the head office building and regularly conducts cerimonies to pray for continued prosperity and worker safety. This article describes analyses the religious aspects of Japanese Companies, and particularly focuses on kaisha, which maintains memorial monuments (kuyoto) on Mont Koya (Wakayama) and the importance of religion a means of Corporate Identity. Otherwise the religious aspects of the kaisha emphasizes the cultural and organizational continuity from feudal age to modem times.
Business administration; companies; Japan; organization; corporate identity