{{Short description|Japanese film studio, no longer active}} {{nihongo|'''M. Pathe'''|M・パテー商会|M. Patē Shōkai}} was a Japanese film studio created by the Pathé group active in the early years of cinema in Japan.
==Background== M. Pathe was founded in 1906 by Shōkichi Umeya, a businessman who had distributed films first in Malaysia and Singapore and then in Japan.<ref name=Komatsu>{{cite book|last=Komatsu|first=Hiroshi|title=Encyclopedia of Early Cinema|year=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-23440-9|editor=Richard Abel|page=404|chapter=M. Pathe}}</ref> He took the name "M. Pathe" from the French Pathé Frères from which he imported films, although the companies had no official connection.<ref name=Komatsu />{{Rp|page=46}} Umeya built a studio in Ōkubo near Shinjuku, Tokyo.<ref name=Yaso>{{cite web|last=Suzuki|first=Sadao|title=Saijō Yaso to Shinjuku (2)|url=http://www.shinjuku-hojinkai.or.jp/07yomoyama/yomo42.php|work=Shinjuku rekishi yomoyama-banashi|publisher=Shinjuku Hōjinkai|accessdate=16 May 2011|language=Japanese|archive-date=24 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324041533/http://www.shinjuku-hojinkai.or.jp/07yomoyama/yomo42.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Purportedly based on Sun Yat-sen's suggestion to use cinema for the public benefit, Umeya sought to connect film to the development of science, industry, and education.<ref name=":Qian2">{{Cite book |last=Qian |first=Ying |title=Revolutionary Becomings: Documentary Media in Twentieth-Century China |date=2024 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231204477 |location=New York, NY}}</ref>{{Rp|page=46}} As a result, in 1906, M. Pathe imported more than 120 educational and scientific films form Europe.<ref name=":Qian2" />{{Rp|page=46}}
An ambitious man, Umeya sent cameramen to Antarctica to record Nobu Shirase's expedition, and thus create one of Japan's first feature-length documentaries.<ref name=kotobank1>{{cite web|last=Nagasaki|first=Hajime|title=Umeya Shōkichi|url=http://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%A2%85%E5%B1%8B%E5%BA%84%E5%90%89|work=Asahi Nihon rekishi jinbutsu jiten|publisher=Asahi Shinbun Shuppan|accessdate=16 May 2011}}</ref> He put on a high-class show, with pretty usherettes and high ticket prices,<ref>{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Joseph L.|title=The Japanese Film: Art and Industry|year=1982|publisher=Princeton University Press|edition=expanded|author2=Donald Richie|author2-link=Donald Richie|page=28}}</ref> while also using his money to help fund Sun Yat-sen and the 1911 Revolution.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kosaka|first=Ayano|title=Kakumei o purodyūsushita Nihonjin|year=2009|publisher=Kōdansha|isbn=978-4-06-215883-1|language=Japanese}}</ref>
M. Pathe documented the success of the 1911 revolution beginning with the Wuchang Uprising and leading to Sun's inauguration, producing three documentary films that covered the revolution.<ref name=":Qian">{{Cite book |last=Qian |first=Ying |title=Revolutionary Becomings: Documentary Media in Twentieth-Century China |date=2024 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231204477 |location=New York, NY}}</ref>{{Rp|page=1}}
==Merger== It was under Umeya's instigation that Yoshizawa Shōten, Yokota Shōkai, and Fukuhōdō merged with M. Pathe to form Nikkatsu in 1912.<ref name=kotobank1 /> His plan was to sever himself from M. Pathe's difficult financial straits by creating a trust that emulated the Motion Picture Patents Company.<ref>{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Joseph L.|title=The Japanese Film: Art and Industry|year=1982|publisher=Princeton University Press|edition=expanded|author2=Donald Richie|author2-link=Donald Richie|page=30}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:M. Pathe}} Category:Japanese film studios
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