Difference between revisions of "Kuwata"
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Kuwata also distributed other products: | Kuwata also distributed other products: | ||
Revision as of 17:11, 14 December 2006
K.K. Kuwata Shōkai (株式会社桑田商会) was a Japanese distributor, based in Osaka.[1] It was found at the beginning of the century.[2] Between 1936 and 1942, it distributed the Mulber (3×4) camera, the Mulber Six, the Semi Mulber, the Mulix and the Seica.
Kuwata was probably the owner of the "Mulber" brand. However the name Mulber Camera Works appears on the shutter plate of the Mulber (3×4) camera and in an advertisement dated March 1936 for the same camera[3] (under the form "Murber Camera Works"). It is unclear if Mulber Camera Works was an independent company or just Kuwata's manufacturing branch, or some sub-contractor.
Some products distributed by Kuwata are called KKS or have a KKS marking, whose signification is unknown. (We can guess something like Kuwata Kōki Seisakusho or Kuwata Kōgaku Seisakusho, meaning Kuwata Optical Works.)
The company Kuwata Shōkai survived the war, and it was an authorized dealer of the Shinkoh Rabbit in 1953.
Cameras distributed
127 film
- Mulber (3×4)
- Seica (4×4)
120 film
- Semi Mulber (4.5×6)
- Mulber Six (6×6)
- Mulix (6×6)
Other
KKS Anastigmat Mulber 21cm f/4.5.
Picture courtesy of Jay Tepper. (Image rights)
Kuwata also distributed other products:
- the Mulber filters,
- the Mulber accessory rangefinder, sold ¥15 in 1936,
- the KKS Anastigmat Mulber 210/4.5 large format lens, reported to have no diaphragm[4], sold ¥125 in 1937,
- the Bimagon (ビマゴン) wide-angle attachment for the 210/4.5 lens, sold ¥35,
- the Magnon Special 75/4.5 enlarging lens, advertised in 1940,
- the KKS darkroom chemicals.[5]
Notes
- ↑ Its address in 1936 was Ōsaka-shi Nishi-ku Shinmachi-dōri 1-chōme 2-banchi (大阪市西区新町通一丁目二番地), and from 1937 to 1939 it was Ōsaka-shi Nishi-ku Itachibori Minami-dōri 1 (大阪市西区立売堀南通一).
- ↑ Lewis, pp. 27–8.
- ↑ Advertisement published in Asahi Camera, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 95.
- ↑ This was reported in an eBay auction for that lens.
- ↑ Advertisements by Kuwata, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 77, 95 and 96.
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.
- 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).
