postgres Kodansha is a major Japanese general publisher founded in 1909 and headquartered in Otowa, Bunkyō, Tokyo. It publishes magazines such as Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Gunzō, and the Chiikawa collected volumes have appeared under its Wide KC Morning imprint since February 2021. /en/organizations/kodansha/relation.html organization_kodansha organization kodansha

Kodansha is a major Japanese general publisher founded in 1909 and headquartered in Otowa, Bunkyō, Tokyo. It publishes magazines such as Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Gunzō, and the Chiikawa collected volumes have appeared under its Wide KC Morning imprint since February 2021.

published category-licensing category-literature category-acg tag-chiikawa tag-publishing tag-literature s1 Wikipedia 日本語版 2026-10-27 https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%A1%E3%81%84%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8F s2 Wikipedia 日本語版 https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/講談社 accessed 2026-11-01 s3 Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodansha accessed 2026-11-01 2026-10-30T14:37:08+08:00 2026-11-01T03:36:54+08:00 user:admin 58 **Kodansha** (株式会社講談社, Kodansha Ltd.) is a major Japanese general publisher headquartered in Otowa, Bunkyō, [[place_japan_pref_tokyo|Tokyo]], and the core company of the Otowa Group of affiliated companies[^s2]. ## History In November 1909, Seiji Noma founded Dai Nippon Yūbenkai, which began by publishing the debating magazine *Yūben*[^s2]. After launching *Kōdan Kurabu* in 1911, it used the name "Kodansha" alongside Dai Nippon Yūbenkai[^s2]. In January 1925 it was renamed Dai Nippon Yūbenkai Kōdansha; in December 1938 it was reorganised as a joint-stock company under the name Kabushiki Kaisha Dai Nippon Yūbenkai Kōdansha; and in 1958 it adopted its current name, Kabushiki Kaisha Kōdansha[^s2]. In 1933 the head office moved to Otowa-chō, Koishikawa-ku (now Otowa, Bunkyō)[^s2]. The presidency has been held successively by members of the Noma family; in 2011 Yoshinobu Noma became the seventh president[^s2]. Member companies of the Otowa Group include [[organization_kobunsha|Kobunsha]] and King Records[^s2]. The company has kept expanding in recent years: it made Ichijinsha a wholly owned subsidiary in 2016 and Wani Books in 2024[^s2]; in 2023 it launched the manga distribution service K Manga, first in the United States, and by June 2025 the service had expanded to more than 30 countries[^s3]. ## Main business The company publishes more than 30 magazines, including *Weekly Shōnen Magazine*, *Morning*, *Shūkan Gendai* and *Gunzō*; it also publishes literary books, manga, practical books and academic books, and runs a range of online media[^s2]. Books it has published include [[person_douban_58f26ab32b17|Haruki Murakami]]'s *Norwegian Wood* and Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's *Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window*[^s2]. It also organises awards including the Noma Literary Prize, the Eiji Yoshikawa Literary Prize, the Kodansha Manga Award and the Edogawa Rampo Prize[^s2]. Since the 1950s it has held book publishing rights to Walt Disney Company characters, and it is an official sponsor of Tokyo Disney Resort[^s2]. The collected volumes of [[work_chiikawa|Chiikawa]] have been published under its Wide KC Morning imprint since 12 February 2021, reaching volume 8 by November 2025[^s1]. Manga publishing and character licensing for the work are handled by different parties: publishing belongs to Kodansha, while outward licensing of the characters is handled by the rights management company [[organization_spiral_cute|SpiralCute Inc.]][^s1]. ## Business performance Kodansha ranks with [[organization_shogakukan|Shogakukan]] and [[organization_shueisha|Shueisha]] among the major companies of the Japanese publishing industry; its revenue exceeded ¥200 billion in the late 1990s, it recorded its first postwar loss in 2002, and its e-book and rights revenue has grown rapidly since 2015[^s2]. For the fiscal year ended November 2025, revenue was ¥169.1 billion and net profit ¥11.1 billion; it had 972 employees as of April 2025[^s2]. Its principal shareholder is the Noma Cultural Foundation, a general incorporated foundation (39.2%)[^s2]. /organizations/kodansha.html en zh ar de en es fr hi id it ja ko ms nl pt ru th tr vi zh-hant publisher 2-12-21 Otowa, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan (moved to Otowa in 1933) relation_chiikawa_published_by_kodansha work_chiikawa published_by organization_kodansha 单行本出版方 work_chiikawa s1 Published works work_chiikawa Chiikawa /en/works/chiikawa.html true relation_api_42ba99b4ce165c2cad4ada00 organization_kobunsha part_of organization_kodansha 講談社持股45.8%，属以講談社为中心的音羽集团。 organization_kobunsha s1 Constituent events or organizations organization_kobunsha 光文社 /en/organizations/kobunsha.html true organization_kobunsha 光文社 /en/organizations/kobunsha.html organization work_chiikawa Chiikawa /en/works/chiikawa.html work published_by Published works relation_chiikawa_published_by_kodansha work_chiikawa published_by organization_kodansha 单行本出版方 work_chiikawa s1 Published works work_chiikawa Chiikawa /en/works/chiikawa.html true part_of Constituent events or organizations relation_api_42ba99b4ce165c2cad4ada00 organization_kobunsha part_of organization_kodansha 講談社持股45.8%，属以講談社为中心的音羽集团。 organization_kobunsha s1 Constituent events or organizations organization_kobunsha 光文社 /en/organizations/kobunsha.html true en zh ar de en es fr hi id it ja ko ms nl pt ru th tr vi zh-hant org_kind Organization kind Publisher headquarters_note Headquarters 2-12-21 Otowa, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan (moved to Otowa in 1933) 1 50 2 1 2 2