Shinko Kinema

Background
Shinko Kinema (新興キネマ, Shinkō kinema) was a Japanese film studio active in the 1930s, founded in 1931 after the Teikoku Kinema studio's dissolution and received assistance from Shochiku capital for its establishment.According to Jun'ichirō Tanaka, a film historian, Shinko was a part of Shochiku's strategy to dominate the Japanese film industry. It used Shinko to manage some of the independent production companies by distributing their movies, as well as attracting talented individuals who had left competing studios like Nikkatsu or Fuji Eiga. Shinkō was responsible for distributing films featuring jidaigeki stars like Tsumasaburō Bandō and Kanjūrō Arashi, as well as gendaigeki stars like Takako Irie. During a certain period, renowned directors like Kenji Mizoguchi, Tomu Uchida, Minoru Murata, Shigeyoshi Suzuki, and Yutaka Abe, along with notable stars such as Tokihiko Okada, Isamu Kosugi, Eiji Nakano, Fumiko Yamaji, and Mitsuko Mori, created films at Shinko. Masaichi Nagata also held the position of studio head at one point. The primary headquarters of Shinko were situated in Hatchōbori, Tokyo, with additional studios in Uzumasa, Kyoto, and Ōizumi (now in Nerima), Tokyo.

Despite its efforts, Shinko struggled to retain these talents and remained a lesser-known studio. In 1941, as part of a government-led industry reorganization, it was merged with Daito Eiga and the production division of Nikkatsu to establish the Dai Nippon Film Company (Daiei). Presently, the Tokyo and Kyoto studios of the Toei Company are situated on the former locations of the Shinko studios.

(1930s)
Visuals: On a textured stone background, we see the relief of a rhombus with a spiky shape inside. On the spiky shape is the Kanji characters "新興" (reading right to left). Below is "京都作品" (also reading right to left). Altogether, the text reads "新興京都作品" (a production of Shinko's Kyoto studio)

Technique: None.

Audio: The opening theme.

Availability: Seen on Kagamiyama kyôenroku (鏡山競艶録)