Shibayama
Shibayama Seisakusho (柴山製作所) was a Japanese company which made the Semi Rody 4.5×6 folders between 1940 and 1942. These cameras were distributed by Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten. The Shibayama company was based in Tokyo, Asakusa.[1]
Some models of the Semi Rody were equipped with U.L.L. lenses made by Miyoshi Kōgaku. The range of models made by Shibayama was very similar to the one made by Proud: the first model of the Semi Rody is a Baldax copy like the first Semi Proud cameras, while the Semi Rody II is inspired from the Duo Six-20 like the Semi Prux. These companies were perhaps related.
After the war, it is reported that the MSK shutters were made by a company called Shibayama Seisakusho or Shibayama Kōki Seisakusho.[2]
A company called K.K. Shibayama Kagaku Kikai Seisakusho (㈱柴山科学器械製作所, translated as Shibayama Scientific Co., Ltd.) currently exists (2007). It was founded in 1909 as Shibayama Seisakusho (柴山製作所), became a Yūgen-gaisha in 1941 and took the name Shibayama Kagaku Kikai Seisakusho in 1961.[3] It is not known if it is related with the above companies.
Notes
- ↑ Its address in 1942 was Tōkyō-tshi Asakusa-ku Kita-Matsuyama-chō 17 (東京市浅草区北松山町十七). Source: advertisement dated January 1942 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 107.
- ↑ Private communication by Umemoto Akio, grandson of Umemoto Kinzaburō, the founder of the Umemoto company.
- ↑ Shibayama official website.
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.
