Denkikan

The Denkikan first launched on January 1, 1911 at Shimodori by Kenosuke Kubodera (or Kubodera Kazan). Incidentally, local resident and film director Kyohiko Ushihara suggested that the name at the time might have been Shikishima Club. The Denkikan was Kumamoto City’s first permanent activity photo studio and was a renovated Shikishima-kan playhouse. At that time, due to the popularity of the Asakusa Denkikan in the Tokyo suburb of Asakusa, other photo studios called Denkikan launched all over Japan. During its early days (or at the time called the early-Taisho period), the Denkikan screened foreign films, but there is another theater nearby called the Sekaikan that screens Japanese films.

Throughout the first several years of the 20th century, Shinshigai had become one of Kumamoto City’s most bustling entertainment districts, and in 1914, the Denkikan relocated to Shinshigai, and became part with Shochiku. At the time, the “second” Denkikan housed 900 seats and was managed by Benika Kawashima. However, in 1928, the theater received a massive remodel and a rebuilt with an elevator. The first-floor houses tenants such as restaurants, and the Denkikan was located on the second and fourth floors of the building. Unfortunately, World War II caused the entire Shinshichi area to reduce into scorched earth following the Kumamoto Air Raids in July 1945.

On June 26, 1953, the Shirakawa levee collapsed due to the 1953 West Japan Flood, and the manager of the Denkikan was killed when he went underground to retrieve reels of film underwater. However, despite the tragedy, the number of movie theaters continued to peak, with 27 movie theaters in Kumamoto City by 1958. At the time, the Denkikan is a Daiei affiliate, but switched to Nikkatsu in September 1959. This didn’t last long, and in April 1961, the Denkikan became a Shochiku premiere theater which will remain for the next three decades.

In the early-1970’s, Denkikan’s underground theater was twinned, known as the Denki Hall and Masterpiece Denki Hall, and in the latter half of the same decade, the upper floors of Denkikan were renovated, with the first-floor housing as the Kumamoto Shochiku Theater for Japanese films and the second floor as the Denkikan for American first-run films. The upper-floor theaters housed 800 seats (400 + 400), while the underground theaters housed 200 seats (120 + 80). A fully covered arcade was completed in the new town area facing Denkikan, earning the nickname Sun Road New Town in 1979. As of 1980, the number of theaters in Kumamoto City were downgraded to 15 theaters, but 11 of them were concentrated in the city district. Throughout the 1980’s, the underground theaters have a few name changes, officially becoming the Cineroman 1 & 2 by the latter half of the decade. The upstairs names were never changed.

After almost seven decades, the Denkikan, the Shochiku, and the two underground theaters closed on January 29, 1995, with a special screening of the 1987 film “The Last Emperor” at the Denkikan. The Dolby stereo, about 10 speakers, one projector, two light sources, and two rectifiers that had completed their role were donated free of charge to Hondo Daiichi Eigeki in Hondo City. The original building was demolished and a six-story reinforced concrete building was constructed at the same location, and on December 23, 1995, the Denkikan Building opened, alongside a triplex movie theater that opened that same day.

The second floor houses the Denkikan, a 110-seat facility managed by Yoichi Kubodera’s Sanwa Bunka Enterprise, the third-floor houses Kumamoto Shochiku 2 by Nishinihon Shochiku Kogyō, and the fifth-floor houses Kumamoto Shochiku 1 of Nishinihon Shochiku Kogyō. The theater’s “fourth” owner at the time, Yoichi Kubodera, is the great-grandson of Kinosuke Kubodera, the founder of Denkikan, and in 2003, Kubodera became the first movie theater owner ever in Japan to receive the Special Award at the Japan Film Critics Awards. However, during the mid-2000’s, Shochiku Cinema Enterprise withdrew from the management of the triplex came under the management of Sanwa Bunka Corporation.

During the Kumamoto earthquakes that occurred on the night of April 14, 2016, although parts of the building’s entrance and walls were damaged, the company resumed operations about three weeks later. COVID briefly shuttered the theater for five weeks between April and May 2020. As of 2026, Screen 1 housed 96 seats while Screens 2 and 3 housed 140 seats.

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