Talk:Nikkatsu

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Nikkatsu is most famous for making porno movies.. this is how wiki works .. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.212.105.197 (talk) 06:18, 9 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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Etymology of "Roman Porno"

In Nikkatsu's own english language catalogues (e.g., Nikkatsu Selected Films, various volumes, published by Nikkatsu Video Films) the phrase "Nikkatsu's Romantic Pornographic Films" is what the company themselves uses to refer to to the listed "Roman Porno" films (as well as the term Roman Porno). My take is that Nikkatsu's explanation is the default.

Author and Japanese cult film historian Jasper Sharp, in "Behind the Pink Curtain" first (?) conjectured that "a more convincing explanation" is that it was derived from the French term "roman pornographique", without providing any other support for that claim. Jasper doesn't mention who will be more convinced by his explanation.

It is often claimed that the label is a contraction of the words 'Romantic Pornography: A more convincing explanation is that it was derived from the French term roman pornographique, or 'pornographic novel; used to describe erotic fictional, works ranging from the writings of the Marquis de Sade to Pauline Reage's The Story of 0 (L'histoire d'O, 1954) and Anais Nin's Delta of Venus (1969). This association with the world of European literature, albeit its more carnal side, was intended to lend Nikkatsu's adult output a more highbrow cachet compared with its less reputable rivals in the eroduction world. What Nikkatsu essentially did was to dramatically bring sexual subject matter out from the underground, dust it down and repackage it for a wider audience.^[1]

Maybe a reach? Before that Donald Richie, in "100 years of Japanese Film A Concise History", does point out the french use of the word roman as a lucky gentrification but does not suggest that to be the origin of the term. In fact this follows the sentence where he explicitly states that "Roman comes from Romantic".^[2]

A handful of other sources only mention the japanised english origins.^[3]^[4]^[5]

At JFDB.jp, Adam Sutherland, translating to English a March 2024 essay by Jinshi Fujii, Professor of Film Studies in Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences at Waseda University, https://jfdb.jp/en/column/2024/11/Japans_Studio_System_A_Short_History) states as a given "derived from the French term roman pornographique" however this is the translator's addition. Fujii's original Japanese only presents the term, without explanation, as 「日活ロマンポルノ」or Nikkatsu Roman Porno.

The french connection is later mentioned in two high profile online Nikkatsu Roman Porno articles, in Dazed (06/02/2024) and Salon (JULY 3, 2017), but neither of those embrace the theory, and both mention a portmanteau of romance/romantic and pornography. They may have gotten the idea from Sharp's book (or even Richie's) and included it for completeness. Parsons nose (talk) 02:37, 10 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"Oldest Major Film Studio in Japan"

21:11, 24 August 2023 @ThisIsMarvy: removed the text "It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era." claiming "it is not the oldest film studio. Shochiku was founded in 1895". The information I can find does not support Shochiku being involved in films in Japan before 1920, although the company was formed in 1895. Brittanica names Nikkatsu as "Japan’s oldest motion-picture company" ^[6]. Various sources support Shochiku's film division beginning in 1920, including Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and Harvard Film Archive's description for the Sochiku Centennial Collection launched in 2023 "The Shochiku Company, Ltd. was founded in 1895 as a company initially dedicated to kabuki, with a film production division opened in 1920" ^[7] I am inclined to reinstate the text. Parsons nose (talk) 11:06, 23 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

^ Sharp, Jasper (2008). Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema. Fab Press. p. 123. ISBN 978 1 903254 54 7. A more convincing explanation is that it was derived from the French term roman pornographique, or 'pornographic novel; used to describe erotic fictional, works … intended to lend Nikkatsu's adult output a more highbrow cachet
^ Richie, Donald (2005) [2001]. A Hundred Years of Japanese Film. Kodansha International. p. 210. ISBN 4-770029-95-0. There was now precedent for others to build on. Roman-porno buoyed up Nikkatsu, at least for a time. Roman comes from "romantic," the idea being that this somehow made the product respectable. In French the word means "novel" (as in the literary genre), lending the results a jun-bungaku-like luster."
^ Hunter, Jack (1998). EROS IN HELL Sex, Blood And Madness In Japanese Cinema. Creation Cinema Collection, Volume 9. Creation Books. p. 15. ISBN 1 871592 93 3. While many independent Western film companies had settled on the horror film as their staple money-earner by the early 1970s, Nikkatsu turned to another form of exploitation to achieve their greatest success: the "artistic" - but controversial - porno movie, marketed under the title roman porno (short for "romance pornography").
^ Wong, Heung Wah; Yau, Hoi-yan (2018). The Japanese Adult Video Industry. Routledge Culture, Society, Business in East Asia Series. Routledge. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-415-70378-9. In 1971, Nikkatsu Movie Production Company (hereafter Nikkatsu), one of the oldest and most prestigious film studios in Japan, launched a variant of pink movie known as romantic pornography (roman poruno) to attract more viewers and stay afloat in view of the company's financial problems.
^ Weisser, Thomas; Weisser, Yuko Mihara (1996). Japanese Cinema: The Essential Handbook. p. 25. ISBN 1-889288-50-0. The sluggish studio, reeling from a series of disastrous projects, took a chance with a new type of film, promoted to the public as Roman-Porno (a Japanized/English term derived from the words Romantic Pornography).
^ "Nikkatsu Motion Picture Company". Britannica.
^ "About the Shochiku Centennial Collection". Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University.

[1] Sharp, Jasper (2008). Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema. Fab Press. p. 123. ISBN 978 1 903254 54 7. A more convincing explanation is that it was derived from the French term roman pornographique, or 'pornographic novel; used to describe erotic fictional, works … intended to lend Nikkatsu's adult output a more highbrow cachet

[2] Richie, Donald (2005) [2001]. A Hundred Years of Japanese Film. Kodansha International. p. 210. ISBN 4-770029-95-0. There was now precedent for others to build on. Roman-porno buoyed up Nikkatsu, at least for a time. Roman comes from "romantic," the idea being that this somehow made the product respectable. In French the word means "novel" (as in the literary genre), lending the results a jun-bungaku-like luster."

[3] Hunter, Jack (1998). EROS IN HELL Sex, Blood And Madness In Japanese Cinema. Creation Cinema Collection, Volume 9. Creation Books. p. 15. ISBN 1 871592 93 3. While many independent Western film companies had settled on the horror film as their staple money-earner by the early 1970s, Nikkatsu turned to another form of exploitation to achieve their greatest success: the "artistic" - but controversial - porno movie, marketed under the title roman porno (short for "romance pornography").

[4] Wong, Heung Wah; Yau, Hoi-yan (2018). The Japanese Adult Video Industry. Routledge Culture, Society, Business in East Asia Series. Routledge. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-415-70378-9. In 1971, Nikkatsu Movie Production Company (hereafter Nikkatsu), one of the oldest and most prestigious film studios in Japan, launched a variant of pink movie known as romantic pornography (roman poruno) to attract more viewers and stay afloat in view of the company's financial problems.

[5] Weisser, Thomas; Weisser, Yuko Mihara (1996). Japanese Cinema: The Essential Handbook. p. 25. ISBN 1-889288-50-0. The sluggish studio, reeling from a series of disastrous projects, took a chance with a new type of film, promoted to the public as Roman-Porno (a Japanized/English term derived from the words Romantic Pornography).

[6] "Nikkatsu Motion Picture Company". Britannica.

[7] "About the Shochiku Centennial Collection". Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University.

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