was a Japanese

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company that makes films. Today, studios are mostly financing and distribution entities. In addition, they may have their own studio facility or facilities; how ...

active in the early years of cinema in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Background

Fukuhōdō was founded in 1910 when Kenzō Tabata built a chain of modern, concrete

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

s in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. To supply these eight theaters, Tabata started a production arm, with a studio located in Nippori. The company also enjoyed a huge success importing the French film ''

Zigomar ''Zigomar'' was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav Adventure (genre), adventure comic strip about the masked hero of the same name, created by artist Nikola Navojev and writer Branko Vidić. Zigomar appeared in six stories published in comic magaz ...

'', which "had a major impact on Japanese film culture".

Merger

Fukuhōdō was one of Japan's major motion picture companies until 1912, when it merged with Yoshizawa Shōten,

Yokota Shōkai was a Japanese film studio active in the early years of cinema in Japan. Its origins can be traced back to when Einosuke Yokota received one of the first Lumiere cinematograph machines in Japan from Inabata Katsutarō to conduct traveling exhibit ...

, and M. Pathe to form

Nikkatsu is a Japanese film studio located in Bunkyō. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Motion Pictures". Shareholders are Nippon Television Holdings (35%) and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (28.4%). ...

. Some employees of Fukuhōdō who did not take part in the merger, such as Kisaburō Kobayashi, later formed Tenkatsu, exploiting the

Kinemacolor Kinemacolor was the first successful colour motion picture process. Used commercially from 1909 to 1915, it was invented by George Albert Smith in 1906. It was a two-colour additive colour process, photographing a black-and-white film behind ...

color motion picture system that was acquired before the merger but which was hidden from Nikkatsu. The National Film Center of the

National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo The , also known as MOMAT, is the foremost museum collecting and exhibiting modern Japanese art. The museum, in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, is known for its collection of 20th-century art and includes Western-style and ''Nihonga'' artists. It has a bra ...

is now located where the first Fukuhōdō theater, the Daiichi Fukuhōkan, was in Kyōbashi.

References

Japanese film studios {{film-studio-stub