Seiji Noma founded Kodansha in 1910 as a spin-off of the Dai-Nippon Yūbenkai (大日本雄辯會, "Greater Japan Oratorical Society") and produced the literary magazine, Yūben, (雄辯) as its first publication.

[citation needed] Revenues dropped due to the 2002 recession in Japan and an accompanying downturn in the publishing industry: the company posted a loss in the 2002 financial year for the first time since the end of World War II.

The company announced that it was closing its English-language publishing house, Kodansha International, at the end of April 2011.

Kodansha USA began issuing new publications under the head administrator of the international branch, Kentaro Tsugumi, starting in September 2012 with a hardcover release of The Spirit of Aikido.

"[citation needed] In October 2016, Kodansha acquired publisher Ichijinsha and turned the company into its wholly-owned subsidiary.

[6] On November 30, 2022, Kodansha announced an extended partnership with Disney to release anime originals based on its manga exclusively on video streaming service Disney+ starting with the second season of Tokyo Revengers.

Kodansha has a somewhat complicated relationship with NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai), Japan's public broadcaster.

The October 2000 issue of Gendai accused NHK of staging footage used in a news report in 1997 on dynamite fishing in Indonesia.

Kodansha appealed the decision and reached a settlement whereby it had to issue only a partial retraction and to pay no damages.