Japan's oldest motion-picture company. Established as an independent company in 1912 with the title Japan Cinematograph Company, it had previously been a part of the Greater Japan Film Machinery Manufacturing Company, Ltd., an attempted monopoly of the industry modeled after the Motion Picture Patents Company in the United States. By 1915 Nikkatsu had captured two-thirds of the viewing market. It employed the first Japanese film star, Onoe Matsunosuke, and the first prominent Japanese director, Makino Shōzō. It was the first to successfully experiment with night photography, in Ningenku (1923; “Human Suffering”), and in the early 1930s it had the best sound system in Japan, the Western Electric sound process.

Poor management eventually led to financial difficulty, and in 1942 its production facilities were incorporated into the newly formed Daiei Company. Nikkatsu remained as a theatre-holding chain only until 1954, when it resumed production. Two years later the huge popularity of Taiyo no Kisetsu (“Season of the Sun”) and Kurutta Kajitsu (“Crazed Fruit”), both based on novels by Ishihara Shintaro and dealt with revolt against tradition, gave Nikkatsu a place among the leading studios. The work of director Mizoguchi Kenji gave the company added prestige. Nikkatsu attracts a widely diversified audience and has expanded into television broadcasting.