Kyōwa

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At least four Japanese optical companies have the name Kyōwa.

Kyōwa Kōki (1950s)

Kyōwa Kōki K.K. (協和光機㈱) was based in Kamihirai, Tokyo,[1] in the 1950s, and used a KYOWA logo. It made the Flora Six and Kyowa Six folding cameras from 1953 to 1955. It also made the K.O.K. and Kyowa leaf shutters mounted on the Flora Six and Kyowa Six, and the Techonar lenses of the Flora Six.

It seems that the Kyowa Six was succeeded by the Orion Six, which has the same body and similar features.[2] The later Orion 66 Super S was made by a company called Orion Seiki Co.,[3] perhaps a new name for Kyōwa Kōki.

Kyōwa Kōki (1970s)

Another company called Kyōwa Kōki K.K. (協和光機㈱) is mentioned as a maker of camera lenses in a document about industry in Shimosuwa (下諏訪).[4] In this document, the company is listed as active in the town in 1971 and 1975 (it was not yet in existence in 1961 and it had disappeared by 1979).

Kyōwa Camera Works

The marking KYOWA CAMERA WORKS is found on the aperture scale of the Selcaflex 6×6 TLR, associated with a KSK logo on the viewing hood. This company is probably different from the other three.

Kyōwa Kōgaku Kōgyō

The company Kyōwa Kōgaku Kōgyō K.K. is still in existence (2010) as a microscope maker. It was founded in 1940 as Gōshi-gaisha Kyōwa Kōgaku Seiki Seisakusho and took its present name in 1948.[5] It seems that this company has not been involved in camera production, and it is certainly not related with the other Kyōwa.

Notes

  1. The exact address was Tōkyō-to Katsushika-ku Kamihirai-chō 320 (東京都葛飾区上平井町320). Source: advertisements dated 1953 and 1954 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.134, 177 and 178.
  2. The Orion Six is listed as the successor of the Kyowa Six in a page formerly published by Terasaki Haruhisa.
  3. See Orion Six.
  4. "Shimosuwa ni okeru kōgyōteki chiriyō no bunka sōjo" (下諏訪における工業的地利用の文化層序), in pdf format.
  5. History page of Kyōwa Kōgaku Kōgyō (stored at web.archive.org).

Bibliography

Links

In Japanese: