Tougodo box-shaped cameras

This is a work in progress.

The Tougo cameras (トウゴーカメラ or トーゴーカメラ) using the no-need-darkroom process were introduced by Tougodo in 1930. Among the first models, many were box cameras.

Chronological evolution and original sources

No original document dated 1930 has been found so far. The original range is therefore unclear, but it seems that the company started by selling a single model for ¥1, in a set including film, paper and chemicals. A historical account of the company published in 1955, based on the interviews of the three founders, says that the first model was the "Mikasa-Go", sold for ¥1. It actually seems that such individual model names only appeared at a later time, perhaps around 1934; it is nonetheless probable that the original model was essentially the same as the later Mikasa-Go.

The earliest known occurrence of the Tougo cameras in printed sources is in Asahi Camera February 1931. This magazine contains a full-page advertisement for the Tougo, as well as an article on Tougo cameras. The advertisement mentions three models, called A (¥1), B (¥2) and C (¥3), with no further details. (These model names have nothing to do with film sizes A, B and C which would appear for Tougodo cameras from 1937.) The article mainly speaks of the one-yen model, mentions the two-yen model in passing and says that the three-yen model is a reflex camera. It also implies that other no-need-darkroom cameras are sold by different companies, without naming them explicitly. The picture of the advertisement shows someone holding a Tougo box camera; this camera has a single brilliant finder and a release control on the photographer's right, and has some illegible trademark written at the bottom right of the lens (as seen from the front). It seems likely that the camera pictured in the advertisement is the model A, which would later become the Mikasa-Go.

The Tougo cameras were advertised in the Japan Photographic Society Annual (日本写真会年鑑, Nihon Shashinkai Nenkan) published in February 1932. The advertisement shows four models: the No.1 and No.2 are box cameras sold as a set for respectively ¥1 and ¥2, No.3 is a reflex camera sold for ¥3 and the No.4 or Tougorette (トーゴーレット) is at ¥4. It seems pretty clear that the No.1, No.2 and No.3 are evolutions of the A, B and C offered in 1931. The pictures show that No.1 is close to the later Mikasa-Go, No.2 is close to the later Hit-Go and No.3 is a reflex model, corresponding to the later Light-Go.

To be continued.

Models and actual examples

Tougo A, Tougo No.1 and Mikasa-Go

The Tougo A, Tougo No.1 and Mikasa-Go are evolutions of a same design. They are wooden box-shaped cameras, with a single brilliant finder at the top, on the photographer's right. They have no diaphragm and Bulb exposure only, and the release lever is on the right-hand side. There is a handle at the top, embossed TOUGO CAMERA.

On at least some of the earliest examples, the lens is surrounded by a simple concave part with no inscription, and the Tougodo trademark and logo are stamped on the paper covering at the bottom right, as seen from the front. These were certainly made at the time of the Tougo A, around 1931.

The February 1932 advertisement cited above for the Tougo No.1 shows a more elaborate lens surrounding, inscribed TRADE MARK at the top with Tougodo's logo. The inscription at the bottom can be deciphered as TŌGŌ VICI CAMERA; the meaning of this "VICI" marking is currently unknown.

The later Mikasa-Go have the same lens surrounding with different markings: TOUGŌ CAMERA at the top and MIKASA-GO at the bottom.

Other

The Speed-Go has two brilliant finders and Bulb and Instant settings, selected by a lever on the photographer's right; it has the words TOUGŌ CAMERA and SPEEDGO around the lens, together with the logo of Tougodo. (Around the same time, Tougodo was also making a Speed-Go Reflex camera.) The Hit-Go looks the same but adds three aperture settings, numbered 1, 2, 3 below the lens; the words TOUGŌ and HITGO are written around the lens, and a large Tougodo logo is inscribed above.

Bibliography

• Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Tōgō kamera (1)" (トーゴーカメラ[1], Tougo cameras [1]). In Camera Collectors' News no.314 (August 2003). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.1–11.
• Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Tougō kamera (2)" (トウゴーカメラ[3], Tougo cameras [2]). In Camera Collectors' News no.315 (Septober 2003). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.1–11.
• Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Tougō kamera (3)" (トウゴーカメラ[3], Tougo cameras [3]). In Camera Collectors' News no.316 (October 2003). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.9–21.
• Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Tougō kamera (4)" (トウゴーカメラ[4], Tougo cameras [4]). In Camera Collectors' News no.317 (November 2003). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. Pp.7–12.
• 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.43.
• McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). P.931.
• Shirai. "Tōgō kamera: 'En-kame' yume miru san-kyōdai" (東郷カメラ・"円カメ"夢みる三兄弟, Tougo cameras: three brothers who dreamed of "yen-cameras"). In Asahi Camera June 1955. Pp.144–5. (Contains interviews of Nagatsuka Masanori, Tanaka Kōichi and Toyota Yoshio, founders of the Tougodo company.)
• Sugiyama, Kōichi (杉山浩一); Naoi, Hiroaki (直井浩明); Bullock, John R. The Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras. 国産カメラ図鑑 (Kokusan kamera zukan). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1985. ISBN 4-257-03187-5. Items 4074–6.

Links

In English:

• Tougodo cameras in Nekosan's website

In Japanese:

• Speed-Go in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology

In Korean:

• Tougo box cameras at Infocam (the picture captioned as a Hit-Go actually shows a Speed-Go)