Ueda Shashinki-ten (上田写真機店, meaning "Ueda Camera Shop")[1] was a Japanese company, founded in 1901 as a camera shop in Osaka.[2] At the beginning of the century, it was the distributor of the products of Konishi Honten in that town.[3] The company made and distributed some cameras in the 1910s under the "Star" brand name.
In the 1930s and early 1940s, Ueda was located in the Shinsaibashi district of Osaka.[4] Around 1935, it was distributing the Crite plate folders and various Star accessories. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, it distributed more cameras made by sub-contractors. For a short time in 1937–8, advertisements for the Vero Four mentioned the name Star Camera Works (スターカメラウワークス), but this was certainly a dummy name crafted for advertising purpose, the same as other names ending in Camera Works. All trace of the company is lost after 1942,[5] and it probably disappeared during World War II.
↑ The exact address was Ōsaka Shinsaibashi-dōri Junkeimachi Kitairi (大阪心斎橋通順慶町北入). Source: Catalogue by Ueda Shashinki-ten, dated c.1935, and advertisements dated October 1938 to April 1940 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.92. Later advertisements dated August 1940 to March 1942 reproduced in the same book, pp.72 and 76–7, only say Ōsaka Shinsaibashi (大阪心斎橋).
↑ Catalogue by Ueda Shashinki-ten, dated c.1935. All the Roman spellings are inferred at best from the names in katakana script; the actual spelling used at the time might differ.
↑Advertisement in Asahi Graph, December 22, 1937, reproduced at Gochamaze. The camera name is written ローロップ in katakana script.
↑ 14.014.114.214.314.414.5 Advertisement on p.24 of Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin, December 15, 1939, reproduced on p.58 of Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku.
Asahi Camera. Advertisements by Ueda Shashinki-ten:
January 1939, p.A25;
April 1940, pp.A21–2;
May 1940, pp.A21–2;
April 1941, no page number.
Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin (日本写真興業通信). Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku (百号ごと十回の記録, Ten records, every hundred issues). Tokyo: Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin Sha (日本写真興業通信社), 1967. No ISBN number. Advertisement on p.58, corresponding to p.24 of the December 15, 1939 issue.
Ueda Shashinki-ten. Saishin kogata kamera (最新小型カメラ, Latest small cameras). Catalogue published c.1935, date not indicated. Document reproduced in this Flickr album by Rebollo_fr.