Asahi Bussan

Back cover of a catalogue by Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō, c.1938, showing export destinations. (Image rights)

Asahi Bussan G.K. (旭物産㈾, Asahi Bussan Gōshi-gaisha) was a Japanese distributor based in Tokyo's Ginza commercial district in the mid-1930s. It certainly owned its own manufacturing facilities, either as a separate dependent company whose name is unknown, or as a mere branch. After the company was absorbed by Riken, these manufacturing facilities became Riken's subsidiary Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō (旭光学工業), which continued the former Asahi Bussan product line. Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō later became Asahi Musen Kōgyō, then Asahi Seimitsu Kōgyō before it was finally merged into Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō in 1953. (The history of the companies Asahi Musen Kōgyō and Asahi Seimitsu Kōgyō is treated in the main Ricoh page.)

History

The company started to distribute the Olympic cameras in 1934, and introduced the Super Olympic in 1935 or 1936, Japan's first 35mm camera with a leaf shutter. These might have been produced in the company's own manufacturing branch, as indicated by the AB logo, certainly for Asahi Bussan, appearing on the shutter plate. The name "The Olympic Camera Works" found on the body of Olympic C from 1936 and on the later Olympic Four and Semi Olympic is certainly a misleading dummy name used for advertising purpose only, as other names ending in Camera Works. (The same can be said of the "O.C. Works" cited as the maker of the Olympic enlarger in a 1937 advertisement.) Some recent sources mention a separate manufacturing company called "Olympic Camera" or "Olympic Camera Seisakusho" (a literal translation of "Olympic Camera Works"), sometimes specifying it as a kabushiki-gaisha (joint-stock company). It is highly probable that these sources misinterpreted the above-mentioned markings and advertisement extracts, but nothing is known for sure.

Advertisement for the Olympic cameras in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1937. (Image rights)

Asahi Bussan was one of the first Japanese companies attempting to sell cameras on Western markets. In late 1936, it placed an advertisement in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1937, offering the Olympic B and C and Super Olympic, the Asahi Field Camera as well as enlargers and tripods under the Olympic brand. The Asahi Field Camera was a common wooden field camera of unknown origin, and was described as "incomparable with any other make in quality and price", in the typical prose found in advertisements of the time.

Advertisement for the Olympic cameras in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938. (Image rights)

In late 1937, the company placed a further advertisement in the 1938 edition of the same British publication. In this document, various new cameras are mentioned. The Semi Olympic was another bakelite camera, clearly produced in the same manufacturing facilities as the previous Olympic models. The Vest Olympic was a rebadged version of the Vest Alex, and the Semi-Adler was a rebadged version of the Semi Victor, both equipped with Asahi Bussan's own Olympic shutter. A further camera called Regal Olympic was announced but probably never sold.

The company was reportedly bought in 1937 by Riken Kankōshi (predecessor of Ricoh), together with the manufacturing facilities. In March 1938, Riken Kankōshi got the new name Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō, which appeared as distributor name instead of Asahi Bussan. The same year, Asahi Bussan's former manufacturing facilities were reorganized as Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō K.K. (旭光学工業㈱, meaning Asahi Optical Industries Co., Ltd.), a subsidiary of Riken, unrelated to the other Asahi Kōgaku predecessor of Pentax.

Catalogue by Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō, c.1938, with Olympic and Adler products. (Image rights)

Asahi Bussan's AB logo still appears on the early examples of the Olympic Four, introduced in 1938, before it was replaced by the AKK initials of Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō. The new company developed minor variants of the Olympic family, as well as a single new model called Letix, a bakelite camera introduced in 1940. On this model, the metal top cover is similar to that of the Kraft by Echt, and was perhaps supplied by that company. This might be a further hint that Asahi Bussan's former manufacturing facilities were specialized in the production of bakelite cameras. The factory also continued the production of leaf shutters, mounted on a few cameras distributed by its parent company Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō.

From 1939, the company Rengō Kōki released a bakelite camera called Semi Renky, whose design is extremely close to the Semi Olympic, with which it might share some parts. It is not known if Rengō Kōki was related to the former Asahi Bussan, or if it merely produced a copy of the Semi Olympic.

In 1941, Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō became Asahi Musen Kōgyō K.K. (旭無線工業㈱, meaning Asahi Wireless Co., Ltd.). Its factory was in Magome, Tokyo, at the location of Ricoh's current headquarters. This company perhaps briefly continued the production of the bakelite cameras inherited from Asahi Bussan, and the last mentions found of the Olympic Four and Letix are dated 1942. It also continued the production of shutters, notably making the Roico III shutter mounted on the Roico. The camera department of the main company Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō was transferred to Asahi Musen during the war, to maintain the know-how.

After World War II, Asahi Musen Kōgyō, soon renamed Asahi Seimitsu Kōgyō, was in charge of camera development and production for its parent company Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō. It notably developed the Steky subminiature camera and the Ricohflex III TLR, before it was merged into Riken in 1953 (see the main Ricoh page).

Camera list

Cameras made in Asahi Bussan's own manufacturing facilities, later Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō:

• Olympic (3×4cm and 4×4cm):
  • Olympic A
  • Olympic B
  • Olympic Junior
  • Olympic C
  • Olympic Four I
  • Olympic Four II
• Super Olympic (24×36mm):
  • Super Olympic D
  • Super Olympic DIII
• Semi Olympic or New Olympic (4.5×6cm):
  • Semi Olympic / New Olympic
  • Semi Olympic II / New Olympic II
  • Semi Kinsi

Camera made by Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō after the end of Asahi Bussan:

• Letix

Cameras distributed by Asahi Bussan or Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō and surely made elsewhere:

• Adler (4.5×6cm):
  • Semi-Adler
  • Adler A
  • Adler B
  • Adler III
• Asahi Field Camera
• Vest Olympic
• Regal Olympic

Other

• Olympic enlargers:
  • no-name or model A
  • model D
• Olympic tripods

The movie branch (映画部) of Asahi Bussan produced short animation movies around 1935.

Bibliography

Original documents

• Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō. Olympic Products. Catalogue published c.1938 (date not indicated). Document reproduced in this Flickr set by Rebollo_fr.
• "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" (国産写真機ノ現状調査, Inquiry into Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of April 1943. Reproduced in Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう: 全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: Presentation and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4-87956-072-3. Pp.180–7.
• Ueda Shashinki-ten. Saishin kogata kamera (最新小型カメラ, Latest small cameras). Catalogue published c.1935 (date not indicated). Document reproduced in this Flickr set by Rebollo_fr. The catalogue lists the Olympic A and B, and Olympic enlargers.
• The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1937. Edited by Arthur J. Dalladay. London: Henri Greenwood & Co. Advertisement by Asahi Bussan on p.668. (The 1937 Almanac was certainly published at the end of 1936.)
• The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938. Edited by Arthur J. Dalladay. London: Henri Greenwood & Co. Advertisement by Asahi Bussan on pp.694–5. (The 1938 Almanac was certainly published at the end of 1937.)

Recent sources

• Arimura Katsumi (有村克巳). "Rikō Ryakushi" (リコー略史, Ricoh short history). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.14, October 1989. No ISBN number. Rikō kamera no subete (リコーカメラのすべて, special issue on Ricoh). Pp.6–7.

Links

In Japanese:

• History of Ricoh in the September and October 2002 issue (Vol.57) of IR Magazine
• History of Riken Kankōshi and its links with the Riken institute, in the June 2000 issue (N°228) of the Riken News bulletin published by the Riken Institute