Kodansha


Kodansha Ltd. is a Japanese privately held publishing and music company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include Nakayoshi, Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Weekly Young Magazine, Weekly Shōnen Magazine, and Bessatsu Shōnen 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.

History

founded Kodansha in 1909 as a spin-off of the Dai-Nippon Yūbenkai and produced the literary magazine, Yūben, as its first publication. The name Kodansha 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 3="omoshirokute, tame ni naru".
Kodansha Limited owns the Otowa Group, which manages subsidiary companies such as King Records and Kobunsha, and publishes Nikkan Gendai, a daily tabloid. It also has close ties with Disney 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.
Kodansha sponsors the Kodansha Manga Award which has run since 1977.
Kodansha's headquarters in Tokyo once housed Noma Dōjō, a kendo practice-hall established by Seiji Noma in 1925. However, the hall was demolished in November 2007 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. 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. Many of Kodansha USA's older titles have been reprinted. According to Daniel Mani of Kodansha USA, Inc., "Though we did publishing new books for about a year starting from late 2011, we did continue to sell most of our older title throughout that period."
In October 2016, Kodansha acquired publisher Ichijinsha and turned the company into its wholly owned subsidiary.
On November 30, 2022, Kodansha announced an extended partnership with Disney to release anime originals based on its manga exclusively on video streaming service Disney+ starting with the second season of Tokyo Revengers.
On May 24, 2024, Kodansha announced that they acquired publisher Wani Books and turned it into a wholly owned subsidiary.

''K Manga''

On March 21, 2023, Kodansha announced a manga distribution service called K Manga which was initially launched exclusively in the United States on May 10, 2023. It started approximately with 400 titles, of which 70 were simultaneous publications of ongoing series. On October 21, 2024, it was announced that the service became available in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore; on February 4, 2025, it was announced that the service had expanded to the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Mexico, and Brazil. On June 24, 2025, it was announced that the service had expanded to over 30 countries.

Relationships with other organizations

The Kodansha company holds ownership in various broadcasting companies in Japan. It also owns shares in Nippon Cultural Broadcasting and 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, 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 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. Gendais sister magazine Shūkan Gendai nonetheless published an article probing further into the staged-footage controversy that has dogged NHK.

Honors

Manga magazines

This is a list of manga magazines published by Kodansha.

Male-oriented manga magazines

Kodomo manga magazines
  • Comic BomBom
Shōnen manga magazines
  • Weekly Shōnen Magazine
  • Monthly Shōnen Magazine
  • Shōnen Sirius
  • Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine
  • Suiyōbi no Sirius
  • Magazine Pocket
  • Monthly Maga Kichi
  • Shōnen Club
  • Monthly Manga Shōnen
  • Bokura
  • Magazine Special
  • Monthly Shōnen Magazine GREAT
  • Monthly Shōnen Rival
  • Magazine E-no
  • Monthly Shonen Magazine+
  • Shōnen Magazine R
  • Shōnen Magazine Edge
Seinen manga magazines
  • Weekly Young Magazine
  • Monthly Young Magazine
  • Morning
  • Afternoon
  • Good! Afternoon
  • Comic Days
  • Yanmaga Web
  • Morning Two Web
  • Young Magazine Zōkan Kaizokuban
  • Mr. Magazine
  • Monthly Magazine Z
  • Young Magazine Uppers
  • Morning Two
  • Nemesis
  • Young Magazine the 3rd
  • ''Evening''

    Female-oriented manga magazines

Shōjo manga magazines
  • Nakayoshi
  • Bessatsu Friend
  • Dessert
  • Nakayoshi Lovely
  • The Dessert
  • Shōjo Club
  • Shōjo Friend
  • Monthly Carol
  • Mimi
  • Suspense & Horror
  • Aria
Josei manga magazines
  • Be Love
  • Kiss
  • Kiss Plus
  • ITAN
  • Hatsu Kiss
Web magazines
  • Ane Friend
  • comic tint
  • Honey Milk
  • Magazine Pocket
  • ''ARTEMIS by Sirius''

    Literary magazines

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

    Lifestyle and fashion magazines

  • ''Hot-Dog Press''

    Book series

Published by Kodansha Ltd.

  • Kodansha Gakujutsu Bunko

    Published by Kodansha International/USA Ltd.

  • Japanese for Busy People Series
  • Japanese for Young People Series
  • Kodansha Bilingual Books
  • Kodansha Globe
  • This Beautiful World

    Miss iD

Kodansha organizes the Miss iD pageant, which started in 2012. iD stands for "identity", "idol", "I", and "diversity", and it is described as a pageant to discover diverse role models for the "new era" without being bound to conventional beauty and lifestyle standards. Married and transgender women are allowed to participate. The Miss ID title is awarded to more than one person each year, and holders of the title include actress Tina Tamashiro, singer Rie Kaneko, and musician Ena Fujita. Computer-generated character Saya and AI character Rinna were semifinalists in the 2018 pageant.

Awards given

Kodansha presents the following awards: