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 1930s.

History

Shinkō was established in 1931 out of the remnants of the Teikoku Kinema studio with the help of

Shōchiku is a Japanese entertainment company. Founded in 1895, it initially managed ''kabuki'' theaters in Kyoto; in 1914, it also acquired ownership of the Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo. In 1920, Shochiku entered the film production industry and establishe ...

capital. According to film historian Jun'ichirō Tanaka, the studio was part of Shōchiku's effort to monopolize the Japanese film industry, using Shinkō to control some of the independent production companies by distributing their films, and absorb rebellious talents who left rivals like

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%). ...

or Fuji Eiga. Shinkō distributed the films of

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "historical drama, period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. ''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, crafts ...

stars like Tsumasaburō Bandō and

Kanjūrō Arashi was a Japanese film actor. His nickname was "Arakan." He is famous for playing the role of '' Kurama Tengu'' series. He entered the film industry in 1927 and came to fame playing Kurama Tengu, a character in the Bakumatsu era created by Jirō ...

or gendaigeki stars such as

Takako Irie was a Japanese film actress. Born in Tokyo into the aristocratic Higashibōjō family (her birth name was ), she graduated from Bunka Gakuin before debuting as an actress at Nikkatsu in 1927. She became a major star, even starting her own produc ...

. For a time, directors such as

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese filmmaker who directed roughly one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include '' The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), '' The Life of Oharu'' (1952), '' Ugetsu'' (1953), and ' ...

Tomu Uchida , born Tsunejirō Uchida, was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Uchida chose the stage name Tomu, a transliteration of the English Tom, written in Kanji characters meaning "to spit out dreams". Biography Early career After leaving junio ...

, Minoru Murata, Shigeyoshi Suzuki, and

Yutaka Abe was a Japanese film director and actor. He went to America along with a younger brother to visit an uncle living in Los Angeles. There he enrolled in an acting school, and upon hearing that Thomas H. Ince was looking for Japanese extras to work ...

, as well as stars like

Tokihiko Okada (February 18, 1903 – January 16, 1934) was a silent film star in Japan during the 1920s and early 1930s. A native of Tokyo, he first started at the Taikatsu studio and later became a leading player for Japanese directors such as Yasujirō O ...

Isamu Kosugi was a Japanese actor and film director. Career Born in Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, Kosugi first studied at the Nihon Eiga Haiyū Gakkō before joining the Nikkatsu studio in 1925. He came to prominence in tendency films such as '' Ikeru n ...

, Eiji Nakano, Fumiko Yamaji and

Mitsuko Mori , real name , was a Japanese actress. Background In May 2009, she became the first actor in Japan to have performed the stage play 2,000 times. She was born in Kyoto, Japan. On May 11, 2009, Takeo Kawamura announced that Mori would be awarded ...

made films at Shinkō.

Masaichi Nagata was a Japanese businessman and served as president of Daiei Film. The self-proclaimed creator of Gamera, he produced the kaiju's second film ''Gamera vs. Barugon'', with the remainder of the Gamera#Films, Showa ''Gamera'' films produced instead ...

became studio head at one point. Its main offices were located in Hatchōbori 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 ...

, and its studios in Uzumasa in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

and Ōizumi (now in

Nerima is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The ward refers to itself as Nerima City. , the ward has an estimated population of 721,858, with 323,296 households and a population density of 15,013 persons ...

) in

. Shinkō could not retain these talents for long and remained a second-rank studio. In the 1941 government-led reorganization of the industry, it was merged with Daito Eiga and the production arm of Nikkatsu to form Daiei Studios. The Tokyo and Kyoto studios of the

Toei Company , simply known as Toei Company or Toei, is a Japanese entertainment company. Headquartered in Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo, it is involved in film and television production, distribution, video game development, publishing, and ownership of 34 movi ...

are currently located on the sites of the old Shinkō studios.

References

Japanese film studios {{leisure-company-stub

History

See also

References