Kodansha

Kodansha Ltd. (株式会社講談社, Kabushiki-gaisha Kōdansha) is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan.[1] Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Weekly Bessatsu Magazine, as well as the more literary magazines Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. Kodansha was founded by Seiji Noma in 1909, and members of his family continue as its owners either directly or through the Noma Cultural Foundation.

Kodansha Ltd.
Native name
株式会社講談社
Kabushiki gaisha Kōdansha
Type
Family-owned private KK
ISINJP3288600004 
IndustryPublishing, music
FoundedDecember 1, 1938 (December 1, 1938)
FounderSeiji Noma
HeadquartersBunkyō,
Tokyo
,
Japan
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Yoshinobu Noma (President & CEO)
ProductsBooks, light novels, magazines, manga, CDs and DVDs (through King Records)
OwnerNoma family (Noma Cultural Foundation 39.2%)
Number of employees
914 (as of September 2013)
SubsidiariesKing Record Co., Ltd.
Kobunsha Co., Ltd.
Kodansha USA
Ichijinsha
Websitewww.kodansha.co.jp

History

Seiji Noma founded Kodansha in 1909 as a spin-off of the Dai-Nippon Yūbenkai (Greater Japan Oratorical Society) and produced the literary magazine Yūben as its first publication. The name Kodansha (taken from Kōdan Club, a now defunct magazine published by the company) originated in 1911 when the publisher formally merged with the Dai-Nippon Yūbenkai. The company has used its current legal name since 1958. It uses the motto "omoshirokute, tame ni naru" (面白くて、ためになる, "To be interesting and beneficial").

Kodansha Limited owns the Otowa Group, which manages subsidiary companies such as King Records (official name: King Record Co., Ltd.) and Kobunsha, and publishes Nikkan Gendai, a daily tabloid. It also has close ties with The Walt Disney Company, and officially sponsors Tokyo Disneyland.

Kodansha is the largest publisher in Japan. Revenues dropped due to the 2002 recession in Japan and an accompanying downturn in the publishing industry: the company posted a loss in the 2002 financial year for the first time since the end of World War II. (The second-largest publisher, Shogakukan, has done relatively better. In the 2003 financial year, Kodansha had revenues of ¥167 billion, as compared to ¥150 billion for Shogakukan. Kodansha, at its peak, led Shogakukan by over ¥50 billion in revenue.)

Kodansha sponsors the prestigious Kodansha Manga Award, which has run since 1977 (and since 1960 under other names).

Kodansha's headquarters in Tokyo once housed Noma Dōjō, a kendo practice-hall established by Seiji Noma in 1925. The hall was demolished in November 2007, however, and replaced with a dōjō in a new building nearby.

The company announced that it was closing its English-language publishing house, Kodansha International, at the end of April 2011.[2] Their American publishing house, Kodansha USA, will remain in operation.

Kodansha USA began issuing new publications under the head administrator of the international branch Kentaro Tsugumi, starting in September 2012 with a hardcover release of The Spirit of Aikido.[3] Many of Kodansha USA's older titles have been reprinted. According to Daniel Mani of Kodansha USA, Inc., "Though we did stopped [sic] publishing new books for about a year starting from late 2011, we did continue to sell most of our older title throughout that period (so Kodansha USA never actually closed)."

In October 2016, Kodansha acquired publisher Ichijinsha and turned the company into its wholly owned subsidiary.[4]

Relationships with other organizations

The Kodansha company holds ownership in various broadcasting companies in Japan. It also holds shares in Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, along with Kobunsha. In the 2005 takeover-war for Nippon Broadcasting System between Livedoor and Fuji TV, Kodansha supported Fuji TV by selling its stock to Fuji TV.

NHK

Kodansha has a somewhat complicated relationship with NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai), Japan's public broadcaster. Many of the manga and novels published by Kodansha have spawned anime adaptations. Animation such as Cardcaptor Sakura, aired in NHK's Eisei Anime Gekijō time-slot, and Kodansha published a companion-magazine to the NHK children's show Okāsan to Issho. The two companies often clash editorially, however. The October 2000 issue of Gendai accused NHK of staging footage used in a news report in 1997 on dynamite fishing in Indonesia. NHK sued Kodansha in the Tokyo District Court, which ordered Kodansha to publish a retraction and to pay ¥4 million in damages. Kodansha appealed the decision, and reached a settlement whereby it had to issue only a partial retraction, and to pay no damages.[5] Gendai's sister magazine Shūkan Gendai nonetheless published an article probing further into the staged-footage controversy that has dogged NHK.

Honors
  • Japan Foundation: Japan Foundation Special Prize, 1994.[6]

List of magazines published by Kodansha

Manga magazines

This is a list of the manga magazines published by Kodansha according to their 2012 Company Profile (page 4).[7]

Male-oriented manga magazines
Kodomo (children's) manga magazines
  • Comic BomBom (1981–2007) (discontinued)
Shōnen manga magazines
  • Weekly Shōnen Magazine (since 1959)
  • Monthly Shōnen Magazine (since 1975)
  • Shōnen Sirius (monthly since 2005)
  • Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine (monthly since 2009)
  • Shōnen Magazine R (monthly since 2015)
  • Magazine Pocket (App/website with monthly manga, since 2015)
Discontinued
  • Shōnen Magazine Wonder (????–????)
  • Monthly Manga Shōnen (1947–1955)
  • Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine (1964–1974; after a suspension, changed name to Monthly Shōnen Magazine in 1975)
  • Magazine Special (monthly, 1983–2017)
  • Monthly Shōnen Rival (2008–2014)
Seinen manga magazines
  • Weekly Young Magazine (since 1980)
  • Monthly Young Magazine (since ????)
  • Morning (weekly since 1982; originally called Comic Morning)
  • Morning 2 (monthly since 2006)
  • Afternoon (monthly, since 1986)
  • Good! Afternoon (monthly since 2012; bi-monthly from 2008 to 2012)
  • Evening (bi-weekly since 2001)
  • Young Magazine the 3rd (monthly since ??)
Discontinued
  • Magazine Z (1999–2009)
  • Young Magazine Uppers (1998–2004)

Female-oriented manga magazines
Shōjo manga magazines
  • Nakayoshi (monthly since 1954)
  • Bessatsu Friend (monthly since 1965)
  • Betsufure (quarterly since ????)
  • Dessert (monthly since 1996)
  • Nakayoshi Lovely (5 issues per year, since ????)
  • The Dessert (monthly, since ????)
Discontinued
  • Shōjo Club (????–????)
  • Shōjo Friend (1962–1996)
  • Mimi (1975–1996)
  • Aria (monthly, 2010–2018)
Josei manga magazines
  • Be Love (bi-weekly since 1980; originally called Be in Love)
  • Kiss (bi-weekly since 1992)
  • Kiss Plus (bi-monthly since ????)
  • ITAN (quarterly since 2010)

Literary magazines
  • Gunzo, monthly literary magazine
  • Mephisto, tri-annual literary magazine focusing on mystery and detective stories
  • Faust

See also
  • Edwin O. Reischauer Memorial House
  • Kodansha Noma Memorial Museum
  • Noma Award
  • Tuttle Publishing
  • Vertical (company)

References
  1. "Company Overview Archived 2011-04-26 at the Wayback Machine." Kodansha. Retrieved on April 5, 2011. Address: 12-21, Otowa 2-chome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8001, Japan
  2. Kamiya, Setsuko and Mizuho Aoki, "Kodansha International to close doors", Japan Times, 4 March 2011, p. 1.
  3. Kisshomaru Ueshiba "", Kodansha USA, Inc., September 4, 2012. ISBN 9781568364094
  4. "Kodansha Acquires Ichijinsha, Makes It Into Subsidiary Company". Anime News Network.
  5. "NHK インドネシア「爆弾漁法」". Engei.s17.xrea.com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  6. Japan Foundation Special Prize, 1994
  7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-25. Retrieved 2014-09-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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