Difference between revisions of "Yamashita"
Rebollo fr (talk | contribs) m (link fix) |
Rebollo fr (talk | contribs) (one more pic) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | '''Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten | + | {| class="plainlinks floatright" style="text-align: center;" |
| + | |- | ||
| + | || [http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebollo_fr/2077600323/in/pool-camerapedia/ http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2340/2077600323_53e8393b8b_m_d.jpg] | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | || ''Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten, name and address.''<br>''{{public domain Japan old}}'' | ||
| + | |} | ||
| + | '''Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten''', later '''Chūō Shashin-yōhin''', was a Japanese distributor. | ||
== History == | == History == | ||
Revision as of 16:06, 1 December 2007
|
| Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten, name and address. (Image rights) |
Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten, later Chūō Shashin-yōhin, was a Japanese distributor.
History
Prewar and wartime period
Rondo logo
(Image rights)
The company Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten (山下友治郎商店, meaning "Yamashita Yūjirō Trading") was based in Tokyo.[1] Yamashita Yūjirō is a personal name, perhaps the name of the founder. The earliest document mentioning the company observed so far is dated July 1935,[2] but the company was perhaps founded earlier. The company name was sometimes given as Yamashita Shōten (山下商店, meaning Yamashita Trading), without the first name Yūjirō.[3] (The address is identical, confirming that it is the same company.)
Yamashita acted as authorized dealers for a variety of cameras. It was the sole distributor of products made by Shinkō, among which the Shinkoflex, the first Japanese 6×6 SLR.
The company certainly owned the brand name "Rondo", under which it sold a variety of photographic products. The Rondo logo is a man's silhouette, it appeared on advertisements dated 1939 to 1942.[4] It also sold a variant of the Tsubasa Super Semi under the name Rondex.[5]
Yamashita certainly also owned the brand name "Sun", and it sold the Sun Stereo camera and offered an auto stop advance retrofit for 4.5×6 folders, called "Sun film stop".
Name and address of Chūō Shashin-yōhin
(Image rights)
Postwar period
The company survived the war, and it was known as K.K. Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten (㈱山下友治郎商店) in early 1950.[6] It was still based in Tokyo but the address was different: it became Chiyoda-ku Kanda Ogawamachi (千代田区神田小川町) 3–8.[7]
The name of the company was changed to Chūō Shashin-yōhin K.K. (中央写真用品㈱) in March or April 1950.[8] The English translation of the new name was Central Photo Supply Co., Ltd.[9] The company used the brand name Rondo again from 1951 to 1959.[10] The most recent mention of the company found so far is dated February 1959.[11]
Prewar and wartime products
Cameras sold under a Yamashita brand
- Sun Stereo (4.5×6 stereo box, 1935–7)
- Rondex (4.5×6 folder, name variant of the Tsubasa Super Semi, 1940)
Cameras distributed by Yamashita
- Shinkoflex (6×6 SLR with focal plane shutter, 1940)
- Shinko Super (6×6 viewfinder with focal plane shutter, 1942)
- Shinko Baby (3×4 viewfinder)
Cameras sold by Yamashita as authorized dealer
- Gold plate folders (1935–6)[12]
- Hansa Semi Rollette and Hansa Rollette Ref (1937)[13]
- Bakyna (1937)[14]
- Semi Olympus, Semi Olympus II and Olympus Standard (1937)[15]
- Optochrom range (1937–9)[16]
- Semi Proud (1936–42)[17]
- Semi Prux (1940)[18]
- Semi Rody (1941–2)[19]
- Picny (1938)[20]
- Boltax (1938–42)[21]
- Bolty (1942)[22]
Other
- Enlarging Zuiko 50/4.5[23]
- Shinko enlarger (1942)
Postwar products
These products were distributed by Yamashita then by Chūō.
Bolta film cameras
- Bolta Homer
35mm film cameras
- Autofocus Tele Homer (or "Outofocas Tere Homer")
- Sunny (24×24mm, 1951)
- Aruba 35 (24×24mm, 1953)
- Aruba 35 II (24×36mm, 1953)
McKeown attributes the Wacoh A to Chūō. This camera was actually made by National Kōgaku but it was perhaps distributed by the company.
120 film cameras
- Dox (6×9cm box, 1951–2)
- Dox New Six (6×6cm box, 1951–2)
- Ponix (6×6cm viewfinder, 1954–7)
- Ponix Junior (6×6cm viewfinder, 1957–9)
- Super Ponix (6×6cm viewfinder, 1958)
- Ponix assembly set (6×6cm viewfinder, 1958–9)
- Shumy (6×6cm viewfinder, also sold as the Flashline)
- Harmony (6×6cm viewfinder)
This page of the AJCC website attributes the Semi Dak to Chūō but other sources attribute it to Asahi Shōten (朝日商店).[24]
Other
- Shinko enlarger (1942)
- Center enlarger (1951)
- Minicam copy kit, a repro stand for Leica and Canon rangefinder cameras (1951)
- Rondo viewer (1952)
- Enlarger meter (1952)
- various Rondo accessories (around 1957–9)
Notes
- ↑ Its address from 1935 to 1942 was Tōkyō-shi Kōjimachi-ku Kōjimachi 1–6 (東京市麴町区麴町一丁目六). Source: advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 62, 71, 74, 89–90, 92–3 and 106.
- ↑ July 1935 advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 71.
- ↑ Advertisements dated March 1936 and February 1942 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 71 and 74. The Shinkoflex page of the JCII collection says Yamashita Shōkai (山下商会) by mistake.
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 89, 93 and 106, and advertisements reproduced in the Gochamaze website and advertisement reproduced in Nostalgic Camera by Toshio Inamura.
- ↑ Rondex distributed by Yamashita: Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 344.
- ↑ Advertisement dated February 1950 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 180.
- ↑ Source: advertisements dated from 1950 to 1959 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 117, 138, 150, 180–1 and 281.
- ↑ An advertisement dated April 1950, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 180, says that Chūō Shashin-yōhin is the new name of Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten (山下友治郎商店改称).
- ↑ English translation: advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 117.
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 117, 138, 150, 181 and 281.
- ↑ February 1959 advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 281.
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 71.
- ↑ Extract of the catalogue of Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten dated April 20, 1937, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 84.
- ↑ Extract of the catalogue of Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten dated April 20, 1937, reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 91.
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 62.
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 78–9.
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 71 and 89–90.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 90.
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 89 and 106.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Awano, p. 10 of Camera Collectors' News no. 332.
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 89, 92–3 and 106, and in Awano, p. 10 of Camera Collectors' News no. 332.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 93.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Nostalgic Camera by Toshio Inamura.
- ↑ Asahi Shōten: Sugiyama, item 4175; Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 354.
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.
- Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Picny" (ピクニー). In Camera Collectors' News no. 332 (February 2005). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha.
Links
In Japanese:
- Advertisements for the Boltax showing the Rondo logo, published in the 8 March and 15 November 1939 and 4 September 1940 issues of Asahi Graph and reproduced in the small format camera page of the Gochamaze website
- Advertisement for the enlarging Zuiko 50/4.5 showing the Rondo logo, published in 1941 and reproduced in Nostalgic Camera, a page by Toshio Inamura
