Sakura Army
The Sakura Army Hand Camera (さくらアーミー手提暗函)[1] is a Japanese box camera sold by Konishi (predecessor of Konica) from 1907.
Description
The Sakura Army is known by a single illustration, found in an original advertisement and reproduced elsewhere.[2] The camera is shaped as a box, and contains twelve plates in tefuda format (8×10.5cm).[3] The front plate is almost square and has the lens near the top, surrounded by the two brilliant finders. Other controls are visible, certainly to set the speed and aperture, and a lens cap is attached to the main body by a cord. There is a handle above the camera.
The shutter is said to give T, B, 1–100 speeds, but one original advertisement mentions Time and Instant only.[4] It can be tripped by a button or by a pneumatic bulb.[5] The lens features are unknown.
Brief commercial life
The Sakura Army was reportedly released in August 1907.[6] It was priced at ¥35.[7] It was short-lived in comparison to other Konishi magazine cameras such as the Cherry, Champion or Sakura Navy, and it was no more present in the December 1911 catalogue by the company.[8]
Notes
- ↑ The words tesage anbako (手提暗函) are rendered as "Hand Camera" in the Konishi catalogue dated December 1911. In modern sources, the same words are often translated as "Portable Camera", and the camera is sometimes called "Sakura Army Portable". The Japanese word anbako, literally meaning "dark box", was forged after "camera obscura" and was used for cameras until the 1910s approximately.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in this page at R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha. The same illustration is reproduced in Sakai, p.17 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10, and in a larger size in this other page of the same website.
- ↑ Twelve plates: advertisement reproduced in this page at R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha.
- ↑ T, B, 1–100: Sakai, p.17 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10. Time and Instant: advertisement reproduced in this page at R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in this page at R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha.
- ↑ Lewis, p.18, and chronology from the official company history Shashin to tomo ni hyaku-nen, reproduced in Tanaka, p.94 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.10. The date is simply given as 1907 in Sakai, p.17 of the same magazine, and in the chronology at R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in this page at R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha.
- ↑ December 1911 catalogue of Konishi Honten.
Bibliography
- Konishi Honten. Saishin Shashin Kikai Mokuroku (最新写真器械目録, Latest catalogue of photographic apparatus). Published on December 18, 1911. Recent reprint. The Sakura Army does not appear in this document.
- 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). P.18.
- Sakai Shūichi (酒井修一). "Konica history 2. Meiji 36-nen – 40-nen." (Konica history 2. 明治36年–40年. From Meiji year 36 (1903) to Meiji year 40 (1907).). 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.10, September 1987. No ISBN number. Konishiroku kamera no rekishi (小西六カメラの歴史, special issue on Konishiroku). Pp.16–23.
- Tanaka Yoshirō (田中芳郎). "Meiji–Taishō jidai no Konishi Honten no kamera wo shiru tame no hon" (明治・大正時代の小西本店のカメラを知るための本, Books about the Konishi Honten cameras of the Meiji and Taishō eras). 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.10, September 1987. No ISBN number. Konishiroku kamera no rekishi (小西六カメラの歴史, special issue on Konishiroku). Pp.92–4.
Links
In Japanese:
- Pages of the R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha website:
| Konishiroku prewar and wartime cameras () | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plate | hand cameras | stereo hand cameras | strut folders | box | telephoto | SLR |
| Idea (original) | Idea A | Idea B | Idea Snap | Idea No.1 | Idea (metal) | Lily (original) | Lily (horizontal) | Lily (metal) | Tropical Lily | Noble | Ohca | Sakura Palace | Sakura Pocket Prano | Sakura Prano | Idea Binocular | Sakura Binocular Prano | Minimum Idea | Idea Spring | Korok | Champion | Cherry | Sakura Army | Sakura Honor | Sakura Navy | Idea Telephoto | Idea Reflex (1910 and 1911) | Idea Reflex (1932) | Neat Reflex | Sakura Reflex Prano | |
| rollfilm | folders | box or collapsible | TLR | |||
| Pearlette | Special Pearlette | B Pearlette | Pearl (for plates and rollfilm) | Pearl No.2 | Pearl (Year 8) | Baby Pearl | Semi Pearl | Sakura Palace | Record | Sakura (box) | Sakura (bakelite) | Sakura-flex | ||||
