Cinema year book of Japan (1937)

An Outline History of the Japanese Cinema By Akira Iwasaki I. The Birth (1896-1914) With the year 1896 the first chapter opened in the history of Japanese motion picture industry. In 1896 Edison’s “Vitascope” and Lumiere’s “Cinematographe” were introduced into Japan almost simultaneously from America and France respectively. A surprising fact is that these two machines were brought to Japan within one year of the public announcement of their invention; a fact that has direct bearing upon the condi¬ tions of the time, when the rapidly growing Japanese bourgeoisie was engrossed in absorb¬ ing Western material civilization immediately after the Sino-Japanese War. The rapidity with which Japan has taken in elements of European civilization was fully exemplified then, as well as in many later instances as we shall see. This is one of the distinguishing features of the Japanese screen. During the first few years of its history, the Japanese screen consisted simply of a few reels of film, with landscape, Kabuki stage, etc. as theme. In 1904 the first motion picture studio was founded in Tokyo, and in 1905 a second one in Kyoto. These two cities have remained to this day the two centres of the film industry of Japan. It was not until 1912, however, that any event of historical importance took place. In 1912 the Nikkatsu (Nippon Katsudo-Shashin Kabushiki Kaisha or Nippon Motion Picture Company, Ltd.) was organized. Even prior to that date, of course, a few dozens of dramatic pieces, with a simple plot, were produced around 1907-10 by several small companies, and some of them not without a certain amount of success. But all these were results of only limited capital and exceedingly clumsy technique, productions that hardly deserve to be called movies in the strict sense of the term. But the times proved favourable: Japanese capitalism was making long strides quickened by the post-war flush after the Russo-Japanese War. All industries seized the opportunity, and, indeed, the times were lively and good. For the motion picture industry, which is meant essentially for popular amusement, this great boom of the people was a rare chance, for it furnished a rich soil to plant and cultivate the infant industry. And so it was that the first trust was formed in Japanese film enterprise: the great Nikkatsu was born, incorporating the four small companies of which casual mention was made above, with a capital of ¥ 10,000,000. Establishing a studio in Tokyo and Kyoto, it started on an active career of film production. The Tokyo studio concentrated on the QendaUgeki or contemporary plays, depicting various phases and problems of Japan’s contemporary life, whereas in 1