Asanuma Shōkai
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| Addresses of Asanuma Shōkai, in a catalogue dated October 1941. (Image rights) |
Asanuma Shōkai (浅沼商会,[1] i.e. Asanuma trading company) was a Japanese distributor founded in 1871 by Asanuma Tokichi.[2] It sold the Eagle plate folders around 1915[3] and the Focal Happy at some later date. It was certainly the owner of the Happy brand, later used on the Happy plate folder made by Molta.
Asanuma distributed the various Minolta models of the Molta and later the Chiyoda Kōgaku company. It apparently had the exclusive right to sell these cameras from at least as early as 1936 to the second world war. After the war it still appears as an authorized dealer of the Minolta cameras, until at least as late as 1952, often together with Misuzu Shōkai. It was still in existence in 1959–60 and advertised Taron and King products; its main address at the time was Chūō-ku Nihonbashi Takarachō 3–3 (中央区日本橋宝町3–3) in central Tokyo.[4]
Asanuma also distributed the Congo lenses of Yamasaki, whose founder was a former employee of the company.[5] The Congo lenses appear in wartime Asanuma catalogues,[6] and the company was still an authorized dealer of Yamasaki in 1960.[7]
Notes
- ↑ 淺沼商會 in older orthography.
- ↑ Lewis, p. 4.
- ↑ Lewis, p. 24.
- ↑ March 1959 advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.254; 1960 advertisement published in Asahi Camera Annual '60.
- ↑ Yamasaki history page; Inoue, p.130; Baird, p.59.
- ↑ Asanuma Shōkai. Shashinki to zairyō, October 1941.
- ↑ Advertisement for the Congo lenses published in Asahi Camera Annual '60.
Bibliography
- Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7.
- Asahi Camera Annual '60 (アサヒカメラ年鑑'60). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbun-sha. No ISBN number.
- Asanuma Shōkai. Shashinki to zairyō (Cameras and supplies). Catalogue dated October 1941. P.16. Document partly reproduced in this Flickr album by Rebollo_fr.
- Baird, John R. The Japanese Camera. Yakima, WA: Historical Camera Publications, 1990. ISBN 1-879561-02-6. P.59.
- Inoue, Mitsuo (井上光朗). "Shashin renzu no yoake. Renzu-ya Funsenki" (写真レンズの夜明け・レンズ屋奮戦記, Dawn of the photographic lens – Fierce war tales between lens shops). 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.128–132.
- Lewis, Gordon, ed. The History of the Japanese Camera. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography & Film, 1991. ISBN 0-935398-17-1 (paper), 0-935398-16-3 (hard).
- McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). P. 85.
