Background

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

Shochiku

is a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. It also produces and distributes anime films. Its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada...

 capital. The historian Jun'ichirō Tanaka writes that 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 talent who left rivals like Nikkatsu

Nikkatsu

is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...

 or Fuji Eiga. And in fact, Shinkō did distribute the films of jidaigeki

Jidaigeki

is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...

 stars like Tsumasaburō Bandō

Tsumasaburo Bando

was one of the most prominent Japanese actors of the twentieth century. Famous for his rebellious, sword fighting roles in many jidaigeki silent films, he rose to fame after joining the Tōjiin Studio of Makino Film Productions in Kyoto in 1923.-Early life:...

 and Kanjūrō Arashi

Kanjūrō Arashi

was a Japanese film actor. He entered the film industry in 1927 and came to fame playing Kurama Tengu, a character in the Bakumatsu era created by Jirō Osaragi in his novels. In the 1950s he portrayed the Emperor Meiji in several hit films and appeared in yakuza films in the 1960s...

 or gendaigeki

Gendaigeki

Gendai-geki is a genre of film and television or theater play in Japan. Unlike the jidai-geki genre of period dramas, whose stories are set in the Edo period, gendaigeki stories are contemporary dramas set in the modern world.-See also:...

 stars such as Takako Irie

Takako Irie

was a Japanese film actress. Born in Tokyo into the aristocratic Higashibōjō family , she graduated from Bunka Gakuin before debuting as an actress at Nikkatsu in 1927. She became a major star, even starting her own production company, Irie Productions, in 1932...

. For a time, such directors as Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène...

, Tomu Uchida

Tomu Uchida

was a Japanese film director. Tomu Uchida, whose name translates to “spit out dreams” is considered one of the less well known masters of Japanese cinema in the West, whose films are rarely screened and not widely available on DVD...

, Minoru Murata

Minoru Murata

was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor who was one of the major directors of the silent era in Japan.-Career:Born in Tokyo, Murata started out as a shingeki actor on the stage. Murata's troupe appeared in the first "pure films" directed by Norimasa Kaeriyama at Tenkatsu in 1918...

, Shigeyoshi Suzuki

Shigeyoshi Suzuki (film director)

was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.Born in Tokyo, Suzuki graduated from Meiji University and entered the Shōchiku studio in 1925. He debuted as a director the next year with Tsuchi ni kagayaku, a film starring Denmei Suzuki...

, and Yutaka Abe

Yutaka Abe

was a Japanese film director and actor. He went to America to study theater and began acting in Hollywood, appearing in such films as The Cheat with Sessue Hayakawa. He was often billed as "Jack Abbe" or "Jack Yutake Abbe." He returned to Japan in 1925, finding work at the Nikkatsu studio, and soon...

, as well as such stars as Tokihiko Okada

Tokihiko Okada

was a Japanese silent film star in Japan during the 1920's and early 1930's. A Tokyo native, he first started at the Taikatsu studio and later he was a leading player for such legendary Japanese directors as Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi. Film critic Tadao Sato recounts that Okada was among the...

, Isamu Kosugi

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...

, Eiji Nakano, Fumiko Yamaji and Mitsuko Mori

Mitsuko Mori

, real name , is a Japanese actress. In May 2009, she became the first actor in Japan to have performed 2,000 times. She was born in Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.On May 11, 2009, Takeo Kawamura announced that Mori would be awarded the People's Honour Award....

 made movies there. Masaichi Nagata became studio head at one point. Its main offices were located in Hatchōbori in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, and its studios in Uzumasa in Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

 and Ōizumi (now in Nerima) in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

.

Merger

Shinkō, however, could not retain such talent 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

Nikkatsu

is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...

 to form Daiei Studios. The Tokyo and Kyoto studios of the Toei Company

Toei Company

is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...

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