Fuji Kōgaku

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Fuji Kōgaku was a Japanese camera maker active at least between 1936 and 1944, and maybe also for some time after the war. It is unrelated to the much better known company Fuji Film. At some point in the 1950s it became Katsuma Kōgaku Kōgyō and established the related company Pioneer Camera.

History

Prewar and wartime

The company's full name was Fuji Kōgaku Kikai Seisakusho (富士光学器械製作所) between 1936 and 1938, then Fuji Kōgaku Kōgyō K.K. (富士光学工業株式会社, Fuji Optical Industries Co Ltd) between 1939 and 1944. It was based in Tokyo.[1] The company sometimes used the short name Fujikō (富士光), and it made a range of cameras called "Lyra" (ライラ, raira). This name was certainly meant to recall "Leica" (ライカ, raika in Japanese).

The Fujikō cameras were first distributed by various dealers, among which Yamamoto Shashinki-ten,[2] before the separate trading company Fujikō Shōji K.K. (富士光商事株式会社) was formed around 1941.[3]

The company logo is FUJI KŌGAKU written in a cemented doublet lens scheme (a type of logo used by many other optical companies). There was a protuberance on top of the logo, maybe an allusion to Mount Fuji.

Postwar

The company probably survived the war: a version of the Lyra Six has been observed that is probably postwar, as indicated by the style of the top housing and the presence of a synchronized shutter with a PC connector. This camera has a logo similar in shape to the one described above, but written LYRA FUJIKŌ. It also seems that the postwar Lyraflex was made at a time when the company was still using the Fujikō name. At last, the late model of the Baby Balnet was probably made after the war too, and it has FUJI.K TOKYŌ markings. It seems that the associated trading company was simply called Fuji Shōji (富士商事) in 1953.[4]

It is said that Fuji Kōgaku was split in two parts, one of them becoming Taisei Kōki (see this page) and the other taking the name Katsuma Kōgaku Kōgyō K.K. (勝間光学工業株式会社).[5] Both companies used the Terionar lens name and had similar logos, but only Katsuma kept the Lyra brand name, making the postwar Semi Lyra in 1955 and 1956. The company used a KATUMA[6] LYRA logo that was similar in shape to the logo used by Fuji Kōgaku.

It seems that another company called Pioneer Camera K.K. (パイオニアカメラ株式会社) was set up at the end of 1955 to make or sell the Pioneer folder. This company shared the same address as Katsuma[7] and the Pioneer folder seems to share its body casting with the postwar Semi Lyra. Katsuma and Pioneer cameras were separately advertised in 1955 and 1956[8] before both companies ceased camera production.

Katsuma is mentioned by various sources as a binocular maker, and it seems that it continued to make binoculars long after it dropped the camera activity, sometimes using the English name Katsuma Optical Company and the corresponding KOC logo inside a triangle, itself inside a circle.

120 film

4.5×6 rangefinder, collapsible

471466848_716f071ec5_t_d.jpg

4.5×6 folding

The Bakyna strut-folder is attributed by some sources[9] to Fuji Kōgaku, but this is unsure.

519812341_f36995cae3_t_d.jpg

6×6 folding

437729991_6d08af793e_t_d.jpg

6×6 TLR

6×9 folding

127 film

351837912_34359e4ff7_t_d.jpg

3×4 folding

4×4 telescopic

4×6.5 folding

Unknown

Special film

McKeown mentions a Comex subminiature in 14×14mm format made after the war.[10]

Other

  • Elka auxiliary rangefinder, sold in 1936[11]
  • Lyra auxiliary rangefinder, sold ¥12 in 1937[12]

Notes

  1. ↑ The address of the company was Tōkyō-shi Hongō-ku Hongō 3-chōme (東京市本郷区本郷三丁目) at least between 1937 and 1942. The address of the first plant is mentioned between 1937 and 1939 as Tōkyō-shi Toshima-ku Ikebukuro 6-chōme (東京市豊島区池袋六丁目), and a second plant is mentioned in 1939 at Tōkyō-shi Itabashi-ku Itabashi 1-chōme (東京市板橋区板橋一丁目). Source: advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 100–1. It is the address of the second plant that is given in the "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), listing the Japanese camera production as of April 1943.
  2. ↑ Advertisement by the distributor Yamamoto Shashinki-ten published in Sunday Mainichi (13 December 1936), reproduced in the Gochamaze website. Other dealers are mentioned in a September 1937 advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 100.
  3. ↑ The address of Fujikō Shōji was Tōkyō-shi Kyōbashi-ku Ginza Nishi-6-chōme (東京市京橋区銀座西六丁目) at least in 1941 and 1942. Source: advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 100–1.
  4. ↑ Its address was Tōkyō Meguro-ku Chū-meguro 1–9 (東京目黒区中目黒2の392). Source: article published in a Japanese magazine dated 1953, perhaps in the July 1953 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in Camera Collectors News no. 31, p. 34.
  5. ↑ According to Tanaka, p. 44, and this page at Japan Family Camera. In 1932, a company called Katsuma Kōgaku Kikai Seisakusho (勝間光学機械製作所) is cited together as one of the two founders of Tōkyō Kōgaku, but this seems unrelated.
  6. ↑ 'Katuma' and 'Katsuma' are two alternative ways to write 勝間 in the Roman alphabet. The latter is closer to the true pronunciation.
  7. ↑ This address was Tōkyō-to Toshima-ku Ikebukuro 6–1981 (東京都豊島区池袋6の1981). Source: advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 160 and 204.
  8. ↑ Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 358 and 371.
  9. ↑ McKeown, p. 328.
  10. ↑ McKeown, p. 328.
  11. ↑ Advertisement dated March 1936, reproducedin Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 77.
  12. ↑ Advertisement dated September 1937, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 100.

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.
  • "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). Pp. 328–9.
  • Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). Nihon no niganrefu: Zenpen (日本の二眼レフ：前編, The TLRs of Japan, vol. 1). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1983. ISBN 4-257-08088-4
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