Asahi Bussan

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Asahi Bussan G.K. (旭物産㈾, Asahi Bussan Gōshi-gaisha)[1] was a Japanese distributor based in Tokyo's Ginza commercial district in the mid-1930s.[2] 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, 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.)[3] 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).[4] It is highly probable that these sources misinterpreted the above-mentioned markings and advertisement extracts, but nothing is known for sure.

2155563671_38d3958310_m_d.jpg
Advertisement for the Olympic cameras in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938, certainly dated late 1937. (Image rights)

Asahi Bussan was one of the first Japanese companies attempting to sell cameras on the Western markets. In late 1936, it placed an advertisement in the United Kingdom, offering the Olympic cameras, the Asahi Field Camera as well as enlargers and tripods under the Olympic brand.[5] 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.[5]

In late 1937, the company placed a further advertisement in the same British publication.[6] 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.[7] In March 1938, Riken Kankōshi got the new name Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō, which appeared as distributor name instead of Asahi Bussan.[8] 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.[9]

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.). This company perhaps briefly continued the production of the bakelite cameras inherited from Asahi Bussan: 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.[10]

Immediately after World War II, Asahi Musen Kōgyō developed the Steky subminiature camera, which is thus a distant descendent of the Olympic (see the main Ricoh page).

Camera list

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

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

Cameras distributed by Asahi Bussan and surely made elsewhere:

Other

The movie branch (映画部) of Asahi Bussan produced short animation movies around 1935.[12]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Japanese word gōshi-gaisha (合資会社) means "limited partnership company", and is normally abbreviated "G.K." In at least one older advertisement placed by the company, the same word was spelt "Goshi Kaisha", using a slightly different romanization which is considered non standard today.
  2. ↑ The address of Asahi Bussan in late 1936 was Kyōbashi-ku Nishi Ginza 8–1 (京橋区西銀座8–1). (The items in the bibliography below dated 1936 and 1937 give this address, though reordered for Western consumption.)
  3. ↑ Advertisement in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938, pp.694–5.
  4. ↑ The name "K.K. Olympic Camera" (㈱オリンピックカメラ) is given in Arimura, p.6 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.14. The name "Olympic Camera Seisakusho" (オリンピックカメラ製作所) is given in this article of the Riken News bulletin and this article of IR Magazine (the latter adds ㈱ for "K.K.").
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Advertisement in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1937, p.668.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Advertisement in The British Journal Photographic Almanac 1938, pp.694–5.
  7. ↑ Arimura, p.6 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.14, article of the Riken News bulletin and article of IR Magazine.
  8. ↑ Arimura, p.6 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.14; history page of the Ricoh official website, 1936–45 period; article of IR Magazine about the history of Ricoh.
  9. ↑ Arimura, p.6 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.14; article of IR Magazine about the history of Ricoh.
  10. ↑ "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), shutter item 18-P-4.
  11. ↑ An unspecified Olympic enlarger appears in an advertisement in Camera Art February 1937, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.44.
  12. ↑ IMDb entry on Asahi Bussan Gōshi-gaisha.

Bibliography

  • 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.
  • "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.
  • 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, and the advertisement was probably prepared in mid 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, and the advertisement was probably prepared in mid 1937.)

Links

In Japanese:

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