Yamashita
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| Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten, name and address. (Image rights) |
Yamashita Shōten or Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten, later Chūō Shashin-yōhin, was a Japanese distributor.
History
Prewar and wartime period
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| Rondo logo (Image rights) |
The company Yamashita Shōten was already active in 1921. Its address at the time was Kōjimachi-ku Dōri 2–7 in Tokyo (東京市麴町通二丁目七番地).[1] It was sometimes called Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten, where Yamashita Yūjirō is a personal name, perhaps that of the founder. The short and long name were used indifferently from the 1920s to the early 1940s.[2] The address from 1935 to 1942 was Kōjimachi-ku Kōjimachi 1–6 (東京市麴町区麴町一丁目六).[3]
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".
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| 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
- Boltax (25×25mm on Bolta film, from 1938)
- 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]
- Baby Light[13]
- Hansa Semi Rollette and Hansa Rollette Ref (1937)[14]
- Bakyna (1937)[15]
- Semi Olympus, Semi Olympus II and Olympus Standard (1937)[16]
- Optochrom range (1937–9)[17]
- Semi Proud (1936–42)[18]
- Semi Prux (1940)[19]
- Semi Rody (1941–2)[20]
- Picny (1938)[21]
- Boltax (1938–42)[22]
- Bolty (1942)[23]
Cameras imported by Yamashita
In the mid-1920s, Yamashita imported the Thowe plate folder and the KW Patent Etui.
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| Advertisement by Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten in Ars Camera November 1924, showing the Thowe plate folder (ソウヱカメラ) and the KW Patent Etui. (Image rights) |
Aftermarket conversions
In 1939, Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten advertised an auto-stop device called Sun film stop (サンフィルムストップ), offered as an aftermarket conversion for various 4.5×6 folding cameras. The conversion consists a metal casing replacing the regular advance key, supporting an advance knob, a large exposure counter disc and a sliding lever at the front to unlock the advance after each exposure. The device looks like the auto-stop mechanism of the Plaubel Roll-Op but is not a plain copy. It was made by an unknown company. The January 1939 advertisement in Asahi Camera shows the Sun film stop mounted on a Semi Prince with Pronto shutter, gives the price of ¥5 and says that the conversion was available for the 4.5×6 Super Ikonta, Ikonta, Nettar, Welta Perle, Semi Lyra, Semi Minolta and Semi Prince.[24]
Other
- Enlarging Zuiko 50/4.5[25]
- 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).[26]
Other
- 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
- ↑ Advertisement in Ars Camera September 1921.
- ↑ The earliest advertisement observed so far with Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten is in Ars Camera November 1924. Advertisements dated March 1936 and February 1942 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.71 and 74, have the short form "Yamashita Shōten". The Shinkoflex page of the JCII collection says Yamashita Shōkai (山下商会) by mistake.
- ↑ Advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.62, 71, 74, 89–90, 92–3 and 106. The address is the same for "Yamashita Shōten" and "Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten", confirming that this is the same company.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Undated leaflet by Ōhashi Takeji Shōten.
- ↑ 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 Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.92.
- ↑ Advertisement reproduced in Nostalgic Camera by Toshio Inamura.
- ↑ Asahi Shōten: Sugiyama, item 4175; Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.354.
Bibliography
- Ars Camera. Advertisement by Yamashita Shōten in September 1921 and February 1922, and by Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten in November 1924. No page number.
- 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.
- Ōhashi Takeji Shōten (大橋武治商店). Leaflet for the Baby Light and the Cross filters and hood. Date not indicated. Document partly reproduced in this Flickr album by Rebollo_fr.
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
