Private company
Tennenshoku Katsudō Shashin
Japanese film studio active in the 1910s
Tennenshoku Katsudō Shashin (天然色活動写真) was a Japanese film studio active in the 1910s. The name translates as the "Natural Color Moving Picture Company," but it was known as Tenkatsu for short. The company was formed in 1914 by remnants of the Fukuhōdō studio that did not take part in the merger that formed Nikkatsu, particularly the entrepreneur Kisaburō Kobayashi, and was first aimed at exploiting the Kinemacolor color motion picture system in Japan.2 It ceased to exist in 1919.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
Overview
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Tennenshoku Katsudō Shashin (天然色活動写真) was a Japanese film studio active in the 1910s. The name translates as the "Natural Color Moving Picture Company," but it was known as Tenkatsu for short. The company was formed in 1914 by remnants of the Fukuhōdō studio that did not take part in the merger that formed Nikkatsu, particularly the entrepreneur Kisaburō Kobayashi, and was first aimed at exploiting the Kinemacolor color motion picture system in Japan. That system became too expensive, so the company soon settled on making regular films, becoming Nikkatsu's main rival in the 1910s. Although it was a decentralized company, one that was run by various bosses and allowed benshi to order the production of films,2
Timeline
Links
- WikipediaTennenshoku Katsudō Shashin
- WikidataQ3518103
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
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