Kōsoku

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The name Kōsoku appears in various Japanese company names. When written 光測, it means "light measuring"; when written 高速, it means "high-speed".

Kōsoku-sha

Kōsoku-sha (光測社) was probably a Japanese camera maker. It is said that it made the Freude around 1942.[1] It is also mentioned in the official price list dated November 1941 as the maker of the Freude Six.[2] It might be the same company as Tōkyō Kōsoku Seiki-sha.

Tōkyō Kōsoku Seiki-sha

Tōkyō Kōsoku Seiki-sha (東京光測精機社) was a Japanese camera maker, which made the Rorter Ref and Rorterflex from 1941 to 1944. Its address was Kyōbashi-ku Ginza (京橋区銀座) 8–3 in Tokyo.[3] It might be the same company as Kōsoku-sha.

Kōsoku Kikan

The company Kōsoku Kikan (高速機関) is mentioned in the official list of set prices dated November 1941, as the maker of the Semi Ace and of the Romax (6×6).[4] The shutter of the Romax is called Kōsoku (in katakana: コーソク) in an advertisement dated March 1942.[5]

Notes

  1. Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.340, and this page at Asacame.
  2. "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō", November 1941, type 3, section 7B.
  3. Advertisements reproduced in Nakamura, p.29 of Camera Collectors' News no.173, and in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.105.
  4. "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō", November 1941, type 3, sections 4A and 6A, type 4, section 3. The company name is barely legible, and the company name "Kōsoku" is written 高速. When spelled that way, it is a word of common use meaning "high speed", which makes little sense for a camera maker's name. It is possible that the author of the price list mistakenly used these two characters in place of the much less common combination 光測, combining the characters for "light" (光) and "measure" (測) and reading the same.
  5. Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.107.

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.
  • "Kamera no kōtei kakaku kanpō happyō" (カメラの公定価格官報発表, Official announcement of the set prices of the cameras), November 1941. Extract of a table listing Japanese camera production and setting the retail prices, reproduced in "Bebī Semi Fāsuto 'Kore ha bebī wo nanotta semi-ki da'" (ベビーセミファースト"これはベビーを名乗ったセミ機だ", Baby Semi First, 'this is a Semi camera called Baby'), an article by Furukawa Yasuo (古川保男) in Camera Collectors' News no. 277 (July 2000). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P. 27. Type 3, sections 4A and 6A; type 4, section 3.
  • Nakamura Kin (中村欽). "Hanseiki mae no jū-ichi-gatsu ni wa..." (半世紀前の十一月には..., In November, fifty years ago...) In Camera Collectors' News no.173 (November 1991). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. P.29.