Ehira
Ehira Kōki Seisakusho (江平光機製作所, meaning Ehira Optical Works) was a Japanese camera maker before and after World War II.
The company was founded by Ehira Shinjirō[1] and was based in Yao, in the suburbs of Osaka.[2] (Most Japanese camera companies were in Tokyo, with the notable exception of Chiyoda Kōgaku, later Minolta, in Osaka.) It is said that Ehira Shinjirō worked for Chiyoda Kōgaku before founding his own company.[3]
It seems that the first camera designed by Ehira was the Weha Chrome Six distributed by Yamamoto Shashinki-ten, notable for its coupled rangefinder device, inspired by the Super Ikonta and other Zeiss Ikon cameras. The first examples were perhaps made in Yamamoto's own workshop.[4] Later examples have the Ehira KSK logo and were certainly made by Ehira Kōki, the last ones being called Ehira Chrome Six with no mention of Weha. The name Weha certainly belonged to Yamamoto and the other Weha cameras and accessories were probably not made by Ehira, except perhaps the Weha Six.[5]
After the war, Ehira produced the Ehira Six, a coupled-rangefinder 6×6 folder copied from the Super Ikonta.
Camera list
- Weha Chrome Six I, II, III
- Weha Chrome Six III New and Ehira Chrome Six
- Ehira Six IIIA and Astoria Six IIIA
Notes
- ↑ First name: see the title of an article in Kurashikku Kamera Senka no. 51, reproduced in this page as 江平真次郎のカメラ and in this page as 江平信次郎のカメラ.
- ↑ Its address in 1949 was Ōsaka-fu Yao-shi Kozakai 148 (大阪府八尾市小阪合一四八). Source: advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 121.
- ↑ Awano, p. 1 of Camera Collectors' News no. 41.
- ↑ An advertisement dated October 1937 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 59, mentions Yamamoto as the maker and distributor (製造発売元) of the Weha Chrome Six.
- ↑ McKeown, p. 255, says that Ehira made the Weha Light plate folder (a sure mistake) and the Weha Six 6×6 folder.
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.
- Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Weha Chrome Six" (ウエハークロームシックス). In Camera Collectors' News no. 41 (December 1980). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha.
- 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. 255.
