Sakura (bakelite)

See also the Sakura box camera in 4×6.5cm or 6×9cm format, also made by Konishiroku.

The Sakura is a Japanese bakelite camera released in 1937 by Konishiroku (predecessor of Konica).

Description

Pictures courtesy of ebayer ffodrot. (Image rights)

The Sakura takes 4×5cm pictures on 127 film. It has a brown-coloured mottled bakelite body. The front plate is mounted on a rectangular box sliding out of the main body. There is a folding frame finder above the camera, with a cross in the front frame. The name SAKURA is moulded in the front plate.

The bakelite advance knob is at the top left. It has an arrow to indicate the winding direction and numbers from 1 to 10 marked on its base. This looks like an exposure counter but there is no auto-stop feature and film advance must be controlled manually: you have to stop turning the knob when the correct number is facing an index on the body. There is a single red window in the middle of the back, protected by a pivoting cover, used to set the position of the first exposure. It is said that the camera was supplied with a mask allowing to take 3×4cm pictures as well, using the red window only (it seems that the 127 roll film sold in Japan at the time had indications for half-frame exposures); however the viewfinder provides no indication of the field of view for 3×4cm format.

The back does not open: the top plate, exposure chamber and spool holders form a single unit that slides out of the body to load the film. (This is certainly possible only when the front plate is extended.) This unit is locked in place by a key placed under the camera, behind the tripod socket, with indications in kanji characters: 開 (open) and 閉 (close). The words MADE IN JAPAN are also moulded in the bakelite next to the opening key, together with various patent numbers, namely PAT.NO.11403., PAT.NO.37437. and PAT.NO.1217.

The shutter only has B and I settings selected by a small lever on the front plate. It is released by a lever actioned by the right hand fingers. The lens is fixed-focus, has no aperture setting and is only marked ROKUOH SHA and TOKYO.

The leather case is marked SAKURA at the front.

Commercial life

Announcement in Asahi Camera September 1937. (Image rights)

The Sakura was featured as a new product in the September 1937 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced above. The document gives the price as ¥5.50. The camera was also briefly advertised in the September, November and December issues of the same magazine, and in other Japanese photography magazines. Some of these advertisements are reproduced below.

Asahi Camera September 1937	Asahi Camera November 1937	Asahi Camera December 1937	Camera Club December 1937
Advertisements for the Sakura camera. (Image rights)

All the advertisements list the camera at ¥6.50, and are clearly targeted at young boys. The catch phrases are "a new streamline small camera, beautifully made of bakelite" (美しいベークライト製新しい流線型の小型カメラ) and "anybody can use it and take good pictures" (誰方が使っても簡単に而もよく写る！).

The Sakura still appears for ¥10 in the official list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, with no further detail. It is not clear if the camera was still produced at the time.

Bibliography

Original documents

• Asahi Camera September 1937. "Atarashii kikai to zairyō" (新しい機械と材料, New equipment and machinery). Pp.523–4.
• Asahi Camera. Advertisements by Konishiroku:
  • September 1937, p.A3;
  • November 1937, p.A19;
  • December 1937, p.A15.
• Camera Club. Advertisement by Konishiroku in December 1937, between pp.24 and 25.
• "Kokusan shashinki no kōtei kakaku" (国産写真機の公定価格, Set prices of the Japanese cameras), listing Japanese camera production as of October 25, 1940 and setting the retail prices from December 10, 1940. Published in Asahi Camera January 1941 and reproduced in 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. Pp.108—9. Type 2, section 1.

Recent sources

• 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. Item 120. (See also the picture on p.435.)
• 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.54 (brief mention only).
• 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.545.
• 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. Item 4016. (See also the colour pictures at the beginning.)
• Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Konica history 4. Taishō 12-nen – Shōwa 8-nen." (Konica history 4. 大正12年–昭和8年. From Taishō year 12 (1923) to Shōwa year 8 (1933).) Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.10, September 1987. No ISBN number. Konishiroku kamera no rekishi (小西六カメラの歴史, special issue on Konishiroku). Pp.33–8.

Links

In Japanese:

• Sakura bakelite camera at Neco's camera collection
• Sakura bakelite camera at Asacame
• Sakura bakelite camera in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology
• Bakelite Sakura 4×5 and brown Sakura 4×6.5 box at the R. Konishi Rokuoh-sha website