Taiyōdō
Taiyōdō Kōki K.K. (太陽堂光機㈱) was a Japanese company based in Tokyo. It was already active in late 1947.[1] In late 1949, it made the subminiature Beauty 14. In mid-1950, it announced the first Beauty Six model, from an address in Jinbōchō (Tokyo).[2] This camera was released later the same year as the Frank Six made by Tōsei Kōki, and the nature of the relationship between the two companies is completely unknown. It released the Beautyflex TLR in late 1950 or early 1951. In 1951, the sales department was presented as an independent company based at the Jinbōchō address and called Taiyōdō (太陽堂), Kamera Taiyōdō (カメラ太陽堂) or K.K. Taiyōdō (㈱太陽堂).[3] From 1952 or 1953, the name Taiyōdō Kōki K.K. applied both to the manufacturing facility, based in Shimizuchō,[4] and for the sales department at Jinbōchō.
Taiyōdō went bankrupt in September 1957.[5] It was revived as Beauty Camera K.K. (ビューティカメラ㈱) in 1958, with a new address in Kayabachō.[6] The company moved to a new location in Edobashi in 1959 or 1960,[7] then again in Miyamotochō by 1962.[8] The trace of the company is lost after 1963.
Contents
Camera list
Clockwise from top left: Beauty Beaumat, Lightmatic 1, Light O Matic 111 & Lightmatic ll
6×6 TLR
- Beautyflex (I), II, IIA, III, IV, V, U, K, S, IIIS, T, 28, D
- Beautycord, Beautycord S
6×6 SLR
6×6 folders
- Beauty Six (1950 model, early name of the Frank Six)
- Beauty Six (1953 model)
35mm viewfinder
- Beauty 35
- Beauty Super 35
- Beauty Canter 35 (F2.8 and F1.9)
- Beauty Super II
- Beauty Super L
- Beauty Lightomatic or Beauty LM (1959)
- Beauty Lightomatic II (1960)
- Beaumat (1960)
- Beauty Lightomatic III (1962)
- Beauty Lightmatic SP (1963)
|
| Vestkam |
Subminiature
- Beauty 14
- Vestkam
Notes
- ↑ Advertisement by Taiyōdō in the October 1947 issue of Ars Camera, observed in an online auction.
- ↑ The address was Chiyoda-ku Kanda Jinbōchō (千代田区神田神保町) 1–12. Source: advertisement dated September 1950 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.166.
- ↑ Advertisements dated January, April, May and July 1951 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.166–7.
- ↑ The address was Itabashi-ku Shimura Shimizuchō (板橋区志村清水町) 366. Source: advertisements dated from July 1953 to December 1955 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.166–9.
- ↑ Lewis, p.104.
- ↑ Compare the advertisements dated December 1957 (Taiyōdō Kōki) and October 1958 (Beauty Camera) reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.269 and 270. The new address was Nihonbashi Kayabachō (日本橋茅場町) 1–18. Source: advertisements dated October and December 1958 and February 1959, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.270.
- ↑ The new address was 日本橋江戸橋 1–15. Source: advertisement dated November 1960 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.270.
- ↑ The new address was 日本橋江戸橋 1–15. Source: advertisements dated July 1962 and September 1963, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.270.
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).
