The Nikkatsu Corporation (日活株式会社 Nikkatsu kabushiki kaisha) 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".
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Nikkatsu was founded on September 10, 1912 when several production companies and theater chains, Yoshizawa Shōten, Yokota Shōkai, Fukuhōdō and M. Pathe, consolidated under the name Nippon Katsudō Shashin.[1] The company enjoyed its share of success. It employed such notable film directors as Shozo Makino and his son Masahiro Makino.
In the course of World War II the government ordered the ten film companies that had formed by 1941 consolidate into two. Daiei founder Masaichi Nagata, a former Nikkatsu employee, counter-proposed that three companies be formed and the suggestion was approved. Nikkatsu, set to merge with the two weakest companies, Shinkō Kinema and Daito, were verbally displeased. The committee formed to establish the value of each company retaliated by purposefully undervaluing Nikkatsu which lead to Shinkō becoming the dominant head of production. The reformed Nikkatsu continued to prosper as an exhibition company but ceased all film production.
The postwar film industry expanded rapidly and, in 1951, Nikkatsu president Kyusaku Hori began construction of a new production studio.[2] A graduate of Tokyo Keizai University, Hori had joined the company in 1951 after quitting his initial employment as the manager of Sanno Hotel (now rebuilt as Sanno Park Tower). Under Hori, Nikkatsu is considered to have had its "Golden Age" of Japanese cinema.
The company began making movies again in 1954. Many assistant directors from other studios, including Shohei Imamura and Seijun Suzuki from Shochiku, moved to Nikkatsu with the promise of advancement to full director status within one or two years.
The company made a few samurai films and historical dramas but by 1960 had decided to devote its resources to the production of urban youth dramas, comedy, action and gangster films. From the late 1950s to 1971 they were renowned for their big budget action movies designed for the youth market. They employed such stars as Yujiro Ishihara, Akira Kobayashi, Joe Shishido, Tetsuya Watari, Ruriko Asaoka, Chieko Matsubara and, later, Meiko Kaji and Tatsuya Fuji. Director Shohei Imamura began his career there and between 1958 and 1966 made for them such films as Pigs and Battleships (1961), The Insect Woman (1963) and The Pornographers (1966).
By 1971 the increased popularity of television had taken a heavy toll on the film industry and in order to remain profitable Nikkatsu turned to the production of Roman Porno (shortened Japanese-English form of "romantic pornography") and pink films, which focus on sex, violence, S&M and romance. Hori resigned over the change in focus, and many stars and directors left the company. A few, including the film directors Yasuharu Hasebe, Keiichi Ozawa, Shogoro Nishimura, and Koreyoshi Kurahara, stayed. It also witnessed the emergence of such new directors as Tatsumi Kumashiro, Masaru Konuma and Chusei Sone.
The advent of home video brought an end to active production at Nikkatsu. Bed Partner (1988) was the last release in the venerable 17-year Roman Porno series. Nikkatsu declared bankruptcy in 1993.[3]
In 2010, a revived Nikkatsu studio announced new production of The Sushi Typhoon movie series in partnership with a U.S. distributor.[4]
From 1974 to 1985, Nikkatsu promoted a number of their leading Roman Porno actresses of the popular BDSM niche under the epithet "SM Queen" (SMの女王 SM no joō).