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| Misuzu Shōkai and MSZ logo (1932). (Image rights) |
Misuzu Shōkai (i.e. Misuzu Trading Company) was a Japanese distributor. It was founded on June 1st, 1922 as simply Misuzu Shōkai (美篶商会) and became K.K. Misuzu Shōkai (㈱美篶商会) on May 16th, 1936.[1] It was based in Tokyo, Ginza[2] and distributed cameras from 1936 to 1944, then again from 1947 to the early 1950s. It sold a number of cameras under its own brands, and it perhaps made some cameras as well: it is said that the Midget subminiature was manufactured by the company.[3]
On June 24th, 1965, it changed its name again to Misuzu Shōkai K.K. (美スズ商会㈱, abandoning the kanji character, whose reading is hard to guess).[4] The company was still in existence in 2004.
Cameras sold by Misuzu Shōkai under its own name
- Vest Alex (4×6.5, 1936–8), later sold by Riken as the Vest Olympic
- Midget (1937)
- Romax plate folder (6.5×9, 1938)
- New Midget (1939, again in 1947)
- New Midget II f/4.5 (1940)
- Andes Four (1941)
- Semi Lead (4.5×6 folder, 1941–4)
The website of the company said that the Midget was made by Misuzu itself.
Other cameras distributed by Misuzu Shōkai
- Alpenflex by Hachiyō Kōgaku Kōgyō
- Semi Leotax by Shōwa Kōgaku (prewar and wartime period)
- Well Standard and Well Super by Nihon Kōki
- Olympus Standard and Semi Olympus II by Takachiho (Misuzu was an authorized dealer)
- Romax (6×6) (Misuzu was an authorized dealer)
Notes
- ↑ Chronology of the Misuzu official website (web archive version Sep 24, 2004).
- ↑ Its address from 1939 to 1944 was Tōkyō-shi Kyōbashi-ku Ginza 8-chōme (東京市京橋区銀座八丁目). Source: advertisements reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.96 and 102.
- ↑ Midget page of the Misuzu official website (web archive version Sep 24, 2004).
- ↑ Chronology of the Misuzu official website (web archive version Sep 24, 2004).
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.
Links
In Japanese:
- A web archive version (Sep 24, 2004) of the Misuzu Shōkai corporate site, which is now dead. There is a company presentation, with a chronology and the history of Misuzu's name, and a page presenting a Midget camera. (If the text is garbled rather than Japanese, switch the encoding to Shift-JIS.)