is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer and distributor of many ''

kaiju is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monster ...

'' and '' tokusatsu'' films, the Chouseishin ''tokusatsu'' superhero television franchise, the films of

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dy ...

, and the

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

films of

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and ...

CoMix Wave Films is a Japanese animation film studio and distribution company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The studio is known for its anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ' ...

, TMS Entertainment and OLM, Inc. All nine of the highest-grossing Japanese films are released by Toho. Other famous directors, including

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

, Kenji Mizoguchi, Masaki Kobayashi, and Mikio Naruse, also directed films for Toho. Toho's most famous creation is

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film '' Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produ ...

, who is featured in 32 of the company's films. Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah and

Mechagodzilla is a fictional mecha character that first appeared in the 1974 film ''Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla''. In its debut appearance, Mechagodzilla is depicted as an extraterrestrial villain that confronts Godzilla. In subsequent iterations, Mechagodzill ...

are described as Toho's Big Five because of the monsters' numerous appearances throughout the franchise, as well as spin-offs. Toho has also been involved in the production of numerous anime titles. Its subdivisions are Toho-Towa Company, Limited (Japanese exclusive theatrical distributor of

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

via

NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan. The ...

), Towa Pictures Company Limited (Japanese exclusive theatrical distributor of

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

), Toho Pictures Incorporated, Toho International Company Limited, Toho E. B. Company Limited, and Toho Music Corporation & Toho Costume Company Limited. The company is the largest shareholder (7.96%) of Fuji Media Holdings Inc. Toho is one of the four members of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (MPPAJ), and it is the largest of Japan's Big Four film studios.

History

Toho was created by the founder of the Hankyu Railway, Ichizō Kobayashi, in 1932 as the . It managed much of the

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought ...

in Tokyo and, among other properties, the eponymous

Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre is another home for Takarazuka Creative Arts in Yurakucho, Chiyoda ward, Tokyo. It served as the second round performing theater for the Revue's performing cycle. The original theater was built in 1934. It was taken over by the American GHQ af ...

and the

Imperial Garden Theater The , often referred to simply as the Teigeki (帝劇), and previously the Imperial Garden Theater, is a Japanese theater located in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan operated by Toho. History Opened in 1911 as the first Western-style theater ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

; Toho and

Shochiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not ...

enjoyed a duopoly over theaters in Tokyo for many years. In 1953, Toho had established Toho International, a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

-based subsidiary intended to target North American and

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

n markets. ''Seven Samurai'' was amongst the first films offered for foreign sales. Toho and Shochiku competed with the influx of Hollywood films and boosted the film industry by focusing on new directors of the likes of

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films ''The Burmese Harp (1956 film), The Burmese Harp'' (1956) and ''Fires on the Plain (1959 film), Fires on the Plain'' (1959 ...

Keisuke Kinoshita was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Ronald Berganbr>"A satirical eye on Japan: Keisuke Kinoshita" ''The Guardian'', 5 January 1999. While lesser-known internationally than contemporaries such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and ...

, Ishirō Honda, and Kaneto Shindo. After several successful film exports to the United States during the 1950s through

Henry G. Saperstein Henry Gahagen Saperstein (June 2, 1918 – June 24, 1998) was an American film producer and distributor. Biography The son of Aaron Saperstein and Beatrice Pearl Saperstein, Henry's father owned five independent cinemas in Chicago. Henry was ed ...

, Toho took over the La Brea Theatre in

to show its own films without the need to sell them to a distributor. It was known as the Toho Theatre from the late 1960s until the 1970s. Toho also had a theater in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and opened a theater in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

in 1963. The Shintoho Company, which existed until 1961, was named New Toho because it broke off from the original company. Toho has contributed to the production of some American films, including

Sam Raimi Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007) and the '' Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present). He also directed the 1990 superhero film ''Darkman' ...

's 1998 film, '' A Simple Plan'' and Paul W. S. Anderson's 2020

military science fiction Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction that features the use of science fiction technology, mainly weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters who are members of a military organization involved in military a ...

film, '' Monster Hunter''. In 2019, Toho invested ¥15.4 billion ($14 million) into their Los Angeles-based subsidiary Toho International Inc. as part of their "Toho Vision 2021 Medium-term Management Strategy", a strategy to increase content, platform, real-estate, beat JPY50 billion profits, and increase character businesses on Toho intellectual properties such as Godzilla. Hiroyasu Matsuoka was named the representative director of the US subsidiary. In 2020, Toho acquired a 34.8% stake in the animation studio TIA, with ILCA and Anima each retaining a 32.6% stake. In 2022, Toho acquired Anima's 32.6% stake to take a controlling 67.4% stake in TIA, making the studio a subsidiary, and ultimately renaming the studio into Toho Animation Studios.

Major productions and distributions

Film

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Upcoming films

Television

Tokusatsu

*'' Ike! Godman'' (1972) *'' Warrior of Love: Rainbowman'' (1972) *'' Zone Fighter'' (1973) *'' Ike! Greenman'' (1973) *''Warrior Of Light: Diamond Eye'' (1973) *'' Flying Saucer War Bankid'' (1976) *'' Megaloman'' (1979) *'' Electronic Brain Police Cybercop'' (1988) *'' Seven Stars Fighting God Guyferd'' (1996) *'' Stickin' Around'' (1996-1998) *'' Godzilla Island'' (1997) *'' Chouseishin Gransazer'' (2003) *''

Genseishin Justirisers , translated into English as ''Phantom Star God Justirisers'' is a tokusatsu superhero TV series produced by Toho and airing on TV Tokyo. This series is the second in Toho's Seishin (Star God) series. The show aired 51 episodes between October 2, ...

'' (2004) *'' Chousei Kantai Sazer-X'' (2005) *''Kawaii! Jenny'' (2007) *''Godziban'' (2019–present)

Anime

*'' Belle and Sebastian'' (1981) *'' Igano Kabamaru'' (1983) *''

Touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position ( proprioception), and pain. It ...

'' (1985) *'' Kimagure Orange Road'' (1987) *'' Baoh'' (1989) *''

Godzilland , or ''Godzillaland'', refers to a series of Japanese children's educational television series produced by Toho and based on the ''Godzilla'' franchise. The first series, a trivia show titled , aired on TV Tokyo in 1992. The series was in ...

'' (1992) *'' Shimajiro'' (1993–present) *'' Midori Days'' (co-production) (2004)

Toho Animation

Toho Animation is a Japanese anime production founded in 2012, and owned by Toho Co., Ltd., which is one of the top three film distributors in Japan. *'' Psycho-Pass'' (2012) *'' Majestic Prince'' (2013) **'' Galactic Armored Fleet Majestic Prince: Wings to the Future'' (2016) **'' Galactic Armored Fleet Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening'' (2016) *'' Fantasista Doll'' (2013) *'' Meganebu!'' (2013) *'' Yowamushi Pedal'' (2013) *''

Engaged to the Unidentified is a Japanese four-panel manga by Cherry-Arai. The strip was serialized in Ichijinsha's ''Manga 4-Koma Palette'' magazine from April 2009 to February 2022, when it was transferred to '' Monthly Comic Rex'' upon that magazine ceasing public ...

'' (2014) *'' One Week Friends'' (2014) *'' Haikyū!!'' (2014) *''

Ao Haru Ride is a Japanese '' shōjo'' manga series written and illustrated by Io Sakisaka. It began serialization in the February 2011 issue of Shueisha's ''Bessatsu Margaret'' and ended in February 2015. ''Ao Haru Ride'' received several adaptation ...

'' (2014) *'' Blood Blockade Battlefront'' (2015) *'' Chaos Dragon'' (2015) *'' Monster Musume'' (2015) *'' Himouto! Umaru-chan'' (2015) **'' Himouto! Umaru-chan R'' (2017) *'' Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash'' (2016) *'' She and Her Cat: Everything Flows'' (2016) *'' My Hero Academia'' (2016) *''

Three Leaves, Three Colors is a Japanese four-panel manga series by Cherry Arai, serialized in Houbunsha's ''Manga Time Kirara'' magazine since February 2003 and fourteen ''tankōbon'' volumes have been collected so far. An anime adaptation by Doga Kobo aired from Apri ...

'' (2016) *'' Orange'' (2016) *'' Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru'' (2016) **'' Zoku Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru'' (2018) **'' Toku Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru ~Setsugetsuka~'' (2022) *'' Little Witch Academia'' (2017) *'' Sakura Quest'' (2017) *''

Land of the Lustrous is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Haruko Ichikawa. It is published by Kodansha in '' Monthly Afternoon'' magazine since October 2012, with its chapters collected in eleven '' tankōbon'' volumes as of July 2020. Set in a ...

'' (2017) *'' Teasing Master Takagi-san'' (2018) *'' Uma Musume Pretty Derby'' (2018) *''

Hanebado! , also known as ''The Badminton Play of Ayano Hanesaki!'' or ''Hanebad!'', is a Japanese sports manga series by Kōsuke Hamada. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''good! Afternoon'' from June 7, 2013 to October 7, 2019 ...

'' (2018) *'' Run with the Wind'' (2018) *'' Anima Yell!'' (2018) *'' FLCL Progressive'' (2018) *''

FLCL Alternative The third season of the ''FLCL'' anime series, titled ''FLCL Alternative'', is produced by Production I.G, Toho, and Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, ...

'' (2018) *''

Fairy Gone ''Fairy Gone'' (stylized as ''Fairy gone'') is a Japanese anime television series produced by P.A. Works that aired from April to December 2019. Plot In the aftermath of the War of Unification, all the nations of the continent of Eastald are ...

'' (2019) *'' Dr. Stone'' (2019) *'' Business Fish'' (2019) *'' Beastars'' (2019) *'' Azur Lane'' (2019) *'' Drifting Dragons'' (2020) *'' BNA: Brand New Animal'' (2020) *'' Great Pretender'' (2020) *'' Dorohedoro'' (2020) *'' Jujutsu Kaisen'' (2020) *'' Mushoku Tensei'' (2021) *''

Seven Knights ''Seven Knights'' (, ja, セブンナイツ, Sebun Naitsu) is a series of online free-to-play role-playing game created by Netmarble. The first game was released for Android and iOS devices in March 2014 in South Korea and in February 2016 ...

'' (2021) *'' Godzilla Singular Point'' (2021) *'' Spy × Family'' (2022) *'' The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten'' (2023) *''

Kaiju No. 8 , also known in English as ''Monster #8'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoya Matsumoto. It has been serialized for free on Shueisha's ''Shōnen Jump+'' application and website since July 2020, with its chapters collec ...

'' (2024)

Video games

* ''

Cliff Hanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

'' In more recent years and for a period, they have produced

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

s. One of their first video games was the 1990 NES game titled '' Circus Caper''. Later, they followed with a series of games based on Godzilla and a 1992 game called '' Serizawa Nobuo no Birdy Try''. It also published games such as ''

Super Aleste ''Space Megaforce'', known in Japan and Europe as , is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed by Compile. It was published by Toho in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as part of the ''Aleste'' series. In a tradit ...

'' (''Space Megaforce'' in North America). They even worked with

Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine ...

on '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', released in Japan in 1988 and in the United States in 1989.

Toho Cinderella Audition

The Toho Cinderella Audition is an audition to discover new young actresses, first held in 1984 and irregularly held since then. It is considered one of Japan's "Big Three Actress Auditions", along with Oscar Promotion's National Bishōjo Contest and

Horipro is a large Japanese talent agency. History It was founded in 1960 as Hori Productions (ホリプロダクション ''Hori Purodakushon'') and changed to its present name in 1990. Horipro has two locations in the United States: Nashville a ...

's Talent Scout Caravan.

Headquarters

Toho's headquarters, the , are in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company moved into its current headquarters in April 2005.会社の沿革
. Toho. Retrieved on February 26, 2010. "2005年4月東宝本社を東宝日比谷ビル（東京都千代田区有楽町一丁目2－2）に移転。"

References

Sources

External links

*
Official Toho YouTube channel.

TOHO-TOWA Company, Limited official website

TOWA PICTURES Company, Ltd. official websiteToho Company on IMDb
* {{Authority control Anime companies Japanese film studios Mass media companies based in Tokyo Distribution companies based in Tokyo Film distributors of Japan Mass media companies established in 1932 Japanese brands Midori-kai Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Hankyu Hanshin Holdings 1932 establishments in Japan Video game companies of Japan Video game development companies Video game publishers