Toho Company

**Toho Co., Ltd.** (東宝株式会社, *Tōhō kabushiki gaishais*) is a Japanese film, theater production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside Japan, it is best known as the producer and distributor of many *kaiju* and *tokusatsu* films, the Chouseishin *tokusatsu* superhero television franchise, the films of Akira Kurosawa, and the anime films of Studio Ghibli, TMS Entertainment and OLM, Inc. Other famous directors, including Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Masaki Kobayashi, and Mikio Naruse, also directed films for Toho.

Toho's most famous creation is Godzilla, who is featured in 32 of the company's films. Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla are described as Toho's Big Five because of the monsters' numerous appearances in all three eras of the franchise, as well as spin-offs. Toho has also been involved in the production of numerous anime titles. Its subdivisions are Toho-Towa Company, Limited (Japanese exclusive theatrical distributor of Universal Pictures via NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan and Paramount Pictures), Toho Pictures Incorporated, Toho International Company Limited, Toho E. B. Company Limited, and Toho Music Corporation & Toho Costume Company Limited. The company is the largest shareholder (7.96%) of Fuji Media Holdings Inc.

Toho is one of the four members of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (MPPAJ), and is the largest of Japan's Big Four film studios.

## History

Toho was created by the founder of the Hankyu Railway, Ichizō Kobayashi, in 1932 as the Tokyo-Takarazuka Theater Company (東京宝塚劇場株式会社, Tōkyō Takarazuka Gekijō Kabushiki-gaisha). It managed much of the kabuki in Tokyo and, among other properties, the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater and the Imperial Garden Theater in Tokyo; Toho and Shochiku enjoyed a duopoly over theaters in Tokyo for many years.

Toho and Shochiku competed with the influx of Hollywood films and boosted the film industry by focusing on new directors of the likes of Akira Kurosawa, Kon Ichikawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Ishirō Honda, and Kaneto Shindo.

After several successful film exports to the United States during the 1950s through Henry G. Saperstein, Toho took over the La Brea Theatre in Los Angeles to show its own films without the need to sell them to a distributor. It was known as the Toho Theatre from the late 1960s until the 1970s. Toho also had a theater in San Francisco and opened a theater in New York City in 1963. The Shintoho Company, which existed until 1961, was named New Toho because it broke off from the original company. Toho has contributed to the production of some American films, including Sam Raimi's 1998 film, *A Simple Plan*.

In 2019, Toho invested ¥15.4 billion ($14 million) into their Los Angeles-based subsidiary Toho International Inc. as part of their "Toho Vision 2021 Medium-term Management Strategy", a strategy to increase content, platform, real-estate, beat JPY50 billion profits, and increase character businesses on Toho intellectual properties such as Godzilla. Hiroyasu Matsuoka was named the representative director of the US subsidiary.

## People

Chairmen:

* Hideo Shibusawa (December 10, 1943 - March 9, 1947)
* Katamaru Tanabe (December 26, 1947 - April 12, 1949)
* Tetsuzō Watanabe (September 26, 1949 - January 16, 1950)
* Ukichi Yonemoto (September 28, 1950 - September 20, 1955)
* Hiroo Sato (March 25, 1957 - September 24, 1962)
* Tatsurō Matsuoka (September 25, 1962 - September 23, 1966)
* Masashi Shimizu (September 24, 1966 - August 21, 1974)
* Takeo Mabuchi (August 22, 1974 - May 24, 1981)

Presidents:

* 1st Generation: Yoshio Osawa (December 10, 1943-March 9, 1947)
* 2nd Generation: Katamaru Tanabe (March 10, 1947-December 22, 1947)
* 3rd Generation: Tetsuzō Watanabe (December 26, 1947-September 25, 1949)
* 4th Generation: Ukichi Yonemoto (September 26, 1949-September 27, 1950)
* 5th Generation: Tomisao Kobayashi (September 28, 1950-September 27, 1951)
* 6th Generation: Ichizō Kobayashi (September 28, 1951-September 19, 1955)
* 7th Generation: Tomisao Kobayashi (September 20, 1955-October 1, 1957)
* 8th Generation: Masashi Shimizu (October 5, 1957-September 23, 1966)
* 9th Generation: Tacuró Macuoka (September 24, 1966-August 12, 1974)
* 10th Generation: Masashi Shimizu (August 22, 1974-May 24, 1977)
* 11th Generation: Isao Matsuoka (May 25, 1977-1994)
* 12th Generation: Toshihiko Ishida (1995-May 22, 2002)
* 13th Generation: Hideyuki Takai (May 23, 2002 - May 25, 2011)
* 14th Generation: Yoshishige Shimatani (May 26, 2011 - )

## Producers

* Sanezumi Fujimoto
* Tomoyuki Tanaka
* Shōgo Tomiyama
* Masakatsu Kaneko
* Hideo Sasai
* Reiji Miwa
* Eizaburō Adachi
* Ichirō Satō
* Fumio Kanehara
* Mikihiko Omori
* Tadahito Gomyō
* Kazuo Kamiya
* Shin Morita
* Hideyuki Shiino
* Tomohiro Kaiyama (currently active as an audio critic)
* Shin Watanabe (later founded the Watanabe Productions)
* Takeo Hori (later founded Hiropro)
* Yoichi Umeura (member of TV Club)
* Etsuo Yamamoto (member of TV Club)

## Directors

* Yasujiro Shimazu
* Sadao Yamanaka
* Mansaku Itami
* Mikio Naruse
* Kunio Watanabe
* Shirō Toyoda
* Torajirō Saitō
* Nobuo Nakagawa
* Kajirō Yamamoto
* Hiroshi Inagaki
* Satsuo Yamamoto
* Tadashi Imai
* Akira Kurosawa
* Ishirō Honda
* Senkichi Taniguchi
* Kon Ichikawa
* Hiromichi Horikawa
* Seiji Hisamatsu
* Toshio Sugie
* Masanori Kakei
* Hideo Suzuki
* Yuzo Kawashima
* Kihachi Okamoto
* Shūe Matsubayashi
* Jun Fukuda
* Eizō Sugawa
* Takeshi Matsumori
* Kengo Furusawa
* Susumu Kodama
* Seiichirô Uchikawa
* Takashi Tsuboshima
* Masanobu Deme
* Shirô Moritani
* Tetsuhiro Kawasaki
* Yoshisuke Kawasaki
* Tsugunobu Kotani
* Kunihiko Yamamoto
* Yoshinori Wada
* Katsuki Iwauchi
* Yasuki Chiba
* Zenzo Matsuyama
* Takashi Nagano

## Screenwriters

* Hideo Oguni
* Ryôzô Kasahara
* Takeo Murata
* Ryūzō Kikushima
* Yasuo Tanami
* Keiichiro Ryu
* Ei Ogawa
* Moriyuki Mafuji
* Hideo Andô
* Shinichi Sekizawa

## Composers

* Akira Ifukube
* Masaru Sato
* Fumio Hayasaka
* Hiroshi Miyagawa
* Hiroaki Hagiwara
* Kenjirō Hirose
* Kan Ishii
* Sadao Bekku
* Yoshiyuki Kozu

## Cinematographers

* Asakazu Nakai
* Takeo Ito
* Masao Tamai
* Eiji Tsuburaya (also active as special effect director and founder of Tsuburaya Productions)
* Kenji Hagiwara
* Kousuke Yamada
* Taiichi Kankura
* Takao Saito

## Male actors

* Denjiro Okochi
* Kazuo Hasegawa
* Takashi Shimura
* Ken Uehara
* Yatarō Kurokawa
* Kamatari Fujiwara
* Yūnosuke Itō
* Susumu Fujita
* Yoshio Kosugi
* Bokuzen Hidari
* Seiji Miyaguchi
* Hisaya Morishige
* Ryō Ikebe
* Keiju Kobayashi
* Sachio Sakai
* Yoshio Inaba
* Toshiro Mifune
* Yûji Hori
* Hajime Izu
* Ichiro Ryuzaki
* Kōji Tsuruta
* Hisaya Ito
* Tatsuya Mihashi
* Isao Kimura
* Frankie Sakai
* Ichirō Arishima
* Seizaburô Kawazu
* Norihei Miki
* Tadao Takashima
* Hajime Hana & The Crazy Cats (Hajime Hana, Hitoshi Ueki, Kei Tani, Hiroshi Inuzuka, Shin Yasuda, Êtarô Ishibashi, & Senri Sakurai)
* Makoto Fujita
* Jun Tazaki
* Minoru Chiaki
* Daisuke Katō
* Akihiko Hirata
* Hiroshi Koizumi
* Akira Kubo
* Mickey Curtis
* Keijirou Yamashita
* Hiroshi Mizuhara
* Tatsuyoshi Ehara
* Akira Hitomi
* Hideyo Amamoto
* Kenji Sahara
* Yoshio Tsuchiya
* Akira Takarada
* Tatsuya Nakadai
* Makoto Satō
* Ichirô Nakatani
* Tadao Nakamaru
* Yosuke Natsuki
* Takeshi Katō
* Yū Fujiki
* Kiyoshi Kodama
* Jun Funato
* Hiroshi Tachikawa
* Yūzō Kayama
* Kunie Tanaka
* Susumu Kurobe
* Masanari Nihei
* Kôji Ishizaka
* Toshio Kurosawa
* Kenpachiro Satsuma
* Tomokazu Miura
* Masao Kusakari
* Masaya Oki
* Masahiro Takashima
* Masanobu Takashima
* Yasuhiko Saijô
* Haruo Nakajima
* Tôru Ibuki
* Seishirō Kuno
* Yoshifumi Tajima

## Female actresses

* Takako Irie
* Chôko Iida
* Chikako Hosokawa
* Ranko Hanai
* Aiko Mimasu
* Isuzu Yamada
* Hideko Takamine
* Setsuko Hara
* Yukiko Todoroki
* Yoshiko Yamaguchi
* Michiyo Kogure
* Chikage Awashima
* Yōko Sugi
* Rieko Sumi
* Yoshiko Kuga
* Toki Shiozawa
* Kaoru Yachigusa
* Ineko Arima
* Mariko Okada
* Yoko Tsukasa
* Michiyo Aratama
* Ranko Akagi
* Noriko Sengoku
* Kawai Okada
* Akiko Wakabayashi
* Mayuri Mokusho
* Chieko Nakakita
* Annu Mari
* Shizuko Kasagi
* Fubuki Koshiji
* Murasaki Fujima
* Asami Kuji
* Hatae Kishi
* Yukiko Shimazaki
* Kyōko Aoyama
* Hizuru Takachiho
* Keiko Awaji
* Setsuko Wakayama
* Kyōko Kagawa
* Momoko Kōchi
* Mitsuko Kusabue
* Yumi Shirakawa
* Reiko Dan
* Sonomi Nakajima
* Noriko Shigeyama
* Kumi Mizuno
* Kyôko Anzai
* Noriko Takahashi
* Bibari Maeda
* Chiemi Eri
* Izumi Yukimura
* Hibari Misora
* Misa Uehara
* Michiyo Yokoyama
* Terumi Niki
* The Peanuts (Emi Ito & Yumi Itō)
* Yôko Fujiyama
* Keiko Sawai
* Takako Sawai
* Mie Hama
* Yuriko Hoshi
* Nami Tamura
* Hiroko Sakurai
* Yuriko Hishimi
* Megumi Matsumoto
* Wakako Sakai
* Yoko Naito
* Yukiko Kashiwagi
* Keiko Takahashi
* Minako Honda
* Momoe Yamaguchi
* Masako Mori
* Junko Sakurada
* Yūko Kotegawa
* Yûko Natori
* Kie Nakai
* Chiaki Matsubara
* Yasuko Sawaguchi
* Yuki Saito
* Megumi Odaka
* Maki Mizuno
* Misato Tanaka
* Maho Nonami
* Masami Nagasawa
* Chihiro Otsuka
* Nobuko Otowa
* Akemi Kita
* Machiko Naka
* Chisako Hara
* Fumie Noguchi
* Keiko Yanagawa
* Manami Kurose
* Kieko Sawamura
* Atsuko Ichinomiya

## Foreigners & Japanese-speaking performers

* George A. Furness (ジョージ・A・ファーネス)
* Sabel Jameel (サベル・ジャミール)
* Ernest A. Richter (アリネスト・A・リクター)
* Marjorie M. Richter (アーネスト・M・リクター)
* Heihachiro Okawa (大川 平八郎)
* George Luiker (ジョージ・ルイカー)
* Andrew Hughes (アンドリュー・ヒューズ)
* Enver Altenbay (エンベル・アルテンバイ)
* Ralph Jesser (ロルフ・ジェッサー)
* Harold Conway (ハロルド・コンウェイ)
* Howard Larson (ハワード・ラルソン)
* Hans Horneff (ハンス・ホルネフ)
* Ed Keane (エド・キーン)
* Pierre Caramelo (ピエール・カラメロ)
* Henrico Rossy (ヘンリコ・ロッシー)
* Pan Henry (パン・ヘンリー)
* Osman Yusuf (オスマン・ユセフ)
* Willy Dosey (ウイリー・ドーシー)
* Bart Johansson (バート・ヨハンソン)
* Franz Gruber (フランツ・グルーベル)
* Jessica Jones (ジェシカ・ジョーンズ)
* Roberto Barbon (ロベルト・バルボン)
* Ted Gunther (テッド・ガンサー)
* Michelle Woofer (ミシェル・ウーハー)
* Kathy Horan (キャシー・ホーラン)
* Nick Adams (ニック・アダムス)
* Lin Tuwon (リン・ツウォン)
* Bai Bing (白冰)
* Mo Chou (莫愁)
* E. H. Erick (E・H・エリック)
* Erik Neilson (エリック・ニールセン)
* George Wyman (ジョージ・ワイマン)
* Len Stanford (レン・スタンフォード)
* Leonard Welch (レオナルド・ウェルチ)
* Marcon Pears (マルコン・ピアーズ)
* Elise Richter (エリス・リクター)
* Donna Carlson (ドナ・カールソン)
* Obel Wyatt (オーベル・ワイアット)
* Jerry Ito (ジェリー伊藤)
* Robert Dunham (ロバート・ダンハム)
* Howard Larson (ハワード・ラルソン)
* Bernard Barre (ベルナール・バーレ)
* Clifford Harrington (クリフォード・ハーリントン)
* Hank Brown (ハンク・ブラウン)
* Daniel Jones (ダニエル・ジョーンズ)
* Ben Green Howe (ベン・グリーンハウ)
* Mike Snape (マイク・スネープ)
* Mike Daneen (マイク・ダニーン)
* Gerd Bisinoski (ゲルト・ビシノスキー)
* Jimmy Scander (ジミー・スキャンダー)
* Ansulmo Garsha (アンスルモ・ガルシャ)
* Rolf Jacer (ロルフ・ジェイサー)
* Kumpu Kubens (クンプ・クーベンス)
* Maria Laurenti (マリア・ラウレンティ)
* Jalar Armet (ジャラール・アーメット)
* Jessica Peters (ジェシカ・ピーターズ)
* Mary Jacob (メリー・ジャコブ)
* Masumi Okada (岡田眞澄)
* Lean Fredrickson (リーン・フレドリクソン)
* Joseph Cotten (ジョゼフ・コットン)
* Cesar Romero (シーザー・ロメロ)
* Richard Jaeckel (リチャード・ジャッケル)
* Patricia Medina (パトリシア・メディナ)
* Linda Haynes (リンダ・ヘインズ)
* Russ Tamblyn (ラス・タンブリン)
* Kipp Hamilton (キップ・ハミルトン)
* Peter Mann (ピーター・マン)
* Rhodes Reason (ローズ・リーズン)
* Linda Miller (リンダ・ミラー)
* Peggy Neal (ペギー・ニール)
* Tetsu Nakamura (中村 哲)
* Annu Mari (真理 アンヌ)
* Bruno Rusuke (ブルーノ・ルスケ)
* Ding Hong (丁紅)
* Zhang Chong (張沖)
* Yu Guangzhao (尤光 照)
* Yang Hong (洪洋)
* Lucilla You Min (尤敏)
* Qiu Zhaomei (丘照美)
* Chico Lourant (チコ・ローランド)
* Kathy Horan (キャシー・ホーラン)
* Anna Martin (アンナ・マルティン)
* Roy James (ロイ・ジェームス)
* Dew Purington (デェウ・ピューリントン)

## Musical band groups

* The Spiders (appeared in Kigeki ekimae hyakku-nen & Nippon Oyafukō Jidai)
* The Tempters (appeared in The Tempters: Smile After Tears)
* Jackey Yoshikawa & His Blue Comets (appeared in Kureji ogon sakusen & Toshigoro)
* The Tigers (appeared in Dorifutazu desu yo! Zenshin zenshin matazenshin, The Tigers: The World Is Waiting for Us, Hanayahanaru shôtai, Hi! London & Kigeki migimuke hidari!)
* Out Cast (appeared in Monsieur Zivaco)
* The Drifters (appeared in Dorifutazu desu yo! Totte totte torimakure, Dorifutāzudesu yo! Bōken bōken mata bōken, Dorifutazu desu yo! Tokkun tokkun mata tokkun, & Dorifutazu desu yo! Zenin totsugeki)
* The Peanuts (appeared in Koshinuke nyuipin sodo, Mothra, Being Two Isn't Easy, Yume de aimashō, Wakai nakamatachi: uchira Gion no maikohan, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Crazy Adventure, Kureji ogon sakusen, & Kureji Mekishiko dai sakusen)
* The Wild Ones (appeared in Let's Go, Young Guy!)
* Johnny's (appeared in Walleyed Nippon & Kureji ogon sakusen)

## Opening logo

A logo mark is placed in the center of the light emitted in the center, and the title is written horizontally in yellow letters at the bottom (early color works are "manufactured by Toho Co., Ltd."). In the TohoScope version, the two words "TOHO" and "Scope" were arranged on the left and right with yellow Gothic three-dimensional processing. When it is released in North America, the alphabet "TOHO" will be included in the Toho mark, and the company name at the bottom will change to "TOHO COMPANY, LTD.". It was designed and produced by Eiji Tsuburaya, and since the 60th anniversary of its founding in 1992, CG-produced images have been used instead of live-action and optical compositing images.

## Headquarters

Toho's headquarters, the Toho Hibiya Building (東宝日比谷ビル, Tōhō Hibiya Biru), are in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company moved into its current headquarters in April 2005.