Advertisement in Shashin Salon January 1934. (Image rights)

G.K. Yamamoto Shashinki-ten (合名会社山本写真機店, meaning Yamamoto Camera Shop) was a Japanese distributor in the 1930s, based in Osaka, perhaps with a subsidiary in Tokyo.^[1] It distributed a number of cameras and accessories called Weha, and was certainly the owner of the Weha brand.

See also Yamamoto Shashinki Kōsakusho, a camera maker based in Tokyo which is probably not related.

Contents 1 Weha cameras and accessories 2 Other distributed cameras 3 Notes 4 Bibliography 5 Links

Weha cameras and accessories Edit

Weha Chrome Six

• Weha plate folders (6.5×9 and 8×10.5)
• Weha Idea (6.5×9 plate folder, a rebadged Idea by Rokuoh-sha)
• Weha Six (6×6 folder made by Ehira)
• Weha Chrome Six (6×6 rangefinder made by Ehira)
• Weha accessory rangefinder, chrome, long base (made by Ehira, sold ¥15 in 1936)^[2]
• Weha accessory rangefinder, black, shorter base (marked WEHA at the top, sold in a case inscribed WEHA Range Finder)^[3]
• Weha enlarger and Weha Anastigmat 75/4.5, 50/4.5 and 105/4.5 enlarging lenses (1939–41)^[4]

Other distributed cameras Edit

• Dianette^[5]
• Baby Lyra by Fuji Kōgaku (in 1936)^[2]
• Semi Lyra by Fuji Kōgaku (in 1936)^[2]
• Mycro by Akita Seisakusho (1939–44)^[6]
• Guzzi by Earth Kōgaku (1939–44)^[7]
• Wester or Semi Wester (4.5×6 folder) by Nishida (authorized dealer for Kansai in 1943)^[8]

Notes Edit

1. ↑ Its address from 1933 to 1941 was Ōsaka-shi Nishi-ku Awaza-nakadōri 1-chōme (大阪市西区阿波座中通一丁目). Source: advertisement in Ōsaka Shashin Shinbun April 1st, 1933, reproduced in Tanimura, p.97 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, and advertisements dated October 1937 to August 1941 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp.59–60. An advertisement in Shashin Salon January 1934 gives the address as Kanda-ku Ogawamachi 2–14 (神田区小川町二ノ十四), in Tokyo.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Made by Ehira: Tanimura, p.33. Price: advertisement published in Sunday Mainichi (December 13, 1936), reproduced in the Gochamaze website.
3. ↑ Observed in an online auction.
4. ↑ Advertisement on p.12 of Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin, December 15, 1939, reproduced on p.46 of Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku. Advertisements in Asahi Camera November 1940 and August 1941 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.60.
5. ↑ Leaflet for the Dianette by Yamamoto Shashinki-ten.
6. ↑ Awano, p.3 of Camera Collectors' News no.274. See also the advertisements reproduced on pp.5 and 7–8 of the same source, and in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.93.
7. ↑ Advertisement on p.14 of Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin December 15, 1939, reproduced in Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku, p.48, and on p.7 of Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin February 15, 1944, reproduced on p.71 of the same.
8. ↑ Advertisement dated March 1943 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.59.

Bibliography Edit

• 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). "Maikuro kamera (senzenhen)" (マイクロカメラ[戦前編], Mycro camera [prewar edition]). In Camera Collectors' News no.274 (April 2000). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha.
• 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. Advertisements on p.24, corresponding to p.6 of the June 1st, 1935 issue, on p.48, corresponding to p.14 of the December 15, 1939 issue, and on p.71, corresponding to p.7 of the February 15, 1944 issue.
• Shashin Salon. Advertisement by Yamamoto Shashinki-ten in January 1934. No page number.
• Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Ehira Nobujirō no kamera: Ehira Kōki, Uehā kara Eruchina made" (江平信次郎のカメラ・江平光機、ウエハーからエルチナまで, The cameras of Ehira Nobujirō, from the Weha to the Eltina). 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.51, June 1999. ISBN 4-257-13024-5. Kurashikku kamera supesharu (クラシックカメラスペシャル, issue about miscellaneous classic cameras). Pp.32–9.
• Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Neumann & Heilemann: kieta ashiato, Minoruta setsuritsu to sono ato no karera wo otte" (Neumann & Heilemann 消えた足跡・ミノルタ設立とその後の彼等を追って, On the traces of Neumann & Heilemann at the founding of Minolta and afterwards.) 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.12, October 1988. No ISBN number. Minoruta kamera no subete (ミノルタカメラのすべて, special issue on Minolta). Pp.96–9.
• Yamamoto Shashinki-ten. Leaflet for the Dianette. Date not indicated. Document reproduced in this Flickr album by Rebollo_fr.

Links Edit

• Advertisement showing the Weha rangefinder, published in the December 13, 1936 issue of Sunday Mainichi, reproduced in the camera company page of the Gochamaze website
• First and second mention of the Weha Light at ksmt.com