Short answers, pulled from the story.
Kodansha was founded by Seiji Noma in 1909 as a spin-off of the Dai-Nippon Yubenkai, or Greater Japan Oratorical Society. The company's first publication was a literary magazine called Yuben. The company adopted its current legal name in 1958.
K Manga is a manga distribution service launched by Kodansha on the 10th of May 2023, initially available only in the United States with approximately 400 titles. It expanded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore in October 2024, then to more than 30 countries by the 24th of June 2025.
Miss iD is a pageant Kodansha has organized since 2012, designed to find diverse role models without being bound to conventional beauty or lifestyle standards. Married and transgender women are eligible, and the title is awarded to more than one person per year. Past holders include actress Tina Tamashiro, singer Rie Kaneko, and musician Ena Fujita.
The October 2000 issue of Kodansha's magazine Gendai accused NHK of staging footage from a 1997 news report on dynamite fishing in Indonesia. NHK sued in the Tokyo District Court, which ordered Kodansha to retract the article and pay 4 million yen in damages. On appeal, Kodansha reached a settlement requiring only a partial retraction and no payment of damages.
Kodansha is a privately held company. Members of the Noma family, who descend from founder Seiji Noma, continue to own it either directly or through the Noma Cultural Foundation.
The Kodansha Manga Award is a prize the company has sponsored since 1977, though under earlier names it dates back to 1960. It is one of several literary and cultural prizes administered by Kodansha, which also presents awards including the Edogawa Rampo Award and the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature.