Ehira

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Ehira was a Japanese camera maker before and after World War II.

The company was founded as Ehira Kōgaku Kikai Kōjō (江平光学精機工場, meaning Ehira Optics and Precision Plant)[1] by Ehira Shinjirō[2] and was based in Yao, in the suburbs of Osaka.[3] (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.[4]

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.[5] 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.[6]

After the war, the company was called Ehira Kōki Seisakusho (江平光機製作所, meaning Ehira Optical Works). It produced the Ehira Six and Astoria Super Six coupled-rangefinder 6×6 folders copied from the Super Ikonta.

Camera list

Notes

  1. ↑ This is the name given in the "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras") listing the Japanese camera production as of April 1943.
  2. ↑ First name: see the title of an article in Kurashikku Kamera Senka no. 51, reproduced in this page as 江平信次郎のカメラ.
  3. ↑ Its address in 1943 was Ōsaka-fu Nakakawachi-gun Yao-chō Kozakai 148 (大阪府中河内郡八尾町小阪合148) and in 1949 it was Ōsaka-fu Yao-shi Kozakai 148 (大阪府八尾市小阪合一四八), the same address in the new administrative system. Source: "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras") listing the Japanese camera production as of April 1943 and advertisement dated November 1949 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 121.
  4. ↑ Awano, p. 1 of Camera Collectors' News no. 41.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ 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.
  • "Ehira Shinjirō no kamera" (江平信次郎のカメラ, "Ehira Shinjirō's cameras"). 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. 51, June 1999. Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama. (Never seen but the title is given by this page at Leica Hiroba.)
  • "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.
  • 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.
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