Kwanon

Goro Yoshida was born in Hiroshima in 1900 and at a young age apprenticed to a company repairing and rebuilding motion picture cameras and projectors. This suited his interest in photography and it allowed him to tinker with various optical devices. Goro managed to acquire a Leica camera, which was a very expensive item in those days, and he took it apart to see how it worked.

Once he got into the camera he found its structure to be unremarkable. The Canon museum quotes him as saying, in later years, “I just disassembled the camera without any specific plan, but simply to take a look at each part. I found there were no special items like diamonds inside the camera. The parts were made from brass, aluminium, iron, and rubber. I was surprised that when these inexpensive materials were put together into a camera, it demanded an exorbitant price.”

This experience prompted an idea that he could create a high grade 35mm rangefinder 

camera that could be sold in the Japanese market at a price the average person could afford. We don’t know if this idea prompted him to take the Leica apart, or the disassembly of the Leica prompted the idea. Either way, the idea was planted.

In October of 1933 Yoshida talked his idea over with his brother-in-law Saburo Uchida who was about his age. Saburo was born into a wealthy family and managed to study law at the Tokyo Imperial University and after graduating joined Yamaichi Securities Company Ltd. as a sales representative. Yoshida convinced Saburo that the idea of making high quality 35mm cameras that people could afford was a good one and, together with an associate of Saburo’s, Takeo Maeda, the three men decided to proceed with the development of a commercially viable camera. They took a room in an apartment block in Tokyo where they launched their enterprise, calling it the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory (Seiki-Kogaku Kenkyusho).

Yoshida was the creative inspiration for the project while Saburo and Takeo managed the business. It was Saburo that kept his day job to finance the work until they had a product to sell.

That, in broad brush strokes, is how it all began. But then the history becomes a little more uncertain. Undoubtedly the three men undertook some research into the market, how other companies got their start, who were suppliers of the materials and manufacturing they would require. But the details of this work are lost.

A fourth man joined them, Tomitaru Kaneko, who became the first factory manager and chief engineer in the young firm. He eventually became responsible for the design of the cameras once Yoshida had left the company.

The Prototypes

Before a new product is brought to market it goes without saying that there were several prototypes built and tested, different ideas tried and several finished working models created. But of these we know little. We don’t know if the lack of information was because in the excitement of the moment and notes were not kept or these things just got lost in the turmoil of the times. Regardless of the reasons, we know little of these early prototypes and the ones that do exist are subject to dispute.

We do know that the original founders of the company, even before it was created, decided to call their camera Kwanon for the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. This was likely because Yoshida was a devout Buddhist. A logo was chosen depicting a many armed Kwannon Goddess. Similarly, the lens to be used was to be called the Kasyapa after the name of a disciple of the Buddha.

Even before they had a product, while they were working to develop their camera they took out advertisements to promote their camera. They seem to have gotten ahead of themselves, maybe to impress investors, maybe to simply motivate themselves, we don’t know. But it was these ads that tell us most of what we know about the development of the Kwanon camera.

The Kwanon-A

The first appearance, as far as we can determine, was in the June 1934 Issue of Asahi Camera Magazine. It showed the image of a 35mm camera with a winder knob on the front. In the top deck the there were three windows, as on the Leica II, for the viewfinder and rangefinder. The top cover was ridged so that it appeared the light paths were through “tubes”. There appears to be no logo or written marks on the camera and the image shows no real detail. It may be a drawing or a very poor photograph.

The text says that the camera is rangefinder coupled, all prisms and no mirrors in the rangefinder, film advance from cassette to cassette, focal plane shutter and interchangeable lenses. We can see that it has the angled corners on the body Canon adopted for their rangefinder cameras. This little detail sets Canon’s cameras apart from the rounded ends on the Leica II. A close 

examination of the drawing in the Leica magazine ad shows the lens to be labeled “Kwanon”. There is no visible writing or logo on this camera.

The film advance knob is on the front of the camera as on the Contax I. Note the lack of a rewind knob on the top deck. It is not necessary as the film advances from one cartridge to another and so does not have to be rewound.

This first Seiki-Kogaku camera, is called by collectors today the Kwanon-A. We simply do not know if it ever existed in this form or if it was functional. However, it is a good indicator of the design direction being taken by the company. The developers of the camera would be unlikely to show these advertisements if they could not actually produce the camera for examination. On that basis it is reasonable to assume it did exist.

This same camera appeared in the same month in an ad in the Leica Monthly magazine published in Tokyo. This time it is a line drawing but it contains more detail. Most striking, again, are the “tubes” in the top cover that define the light path through the rangefinder and viewfinder.

Advertisement that appeared in the July 1934 issue of ARS Camera magazine showing the Kwanon-B camera.

Advertisement that appeared in the September 1934 issue of Asahi Camera magazine showing the Kwanon-C camera.

A Kwanon-B Clarification

You will find the advertisement shown in the illustration to the left Online saying that it is the ad from Asahi Camera magazine of September 1934 showing the Kwanon-C. This of course cannot be true as the camera shown is clearly the Kwanon Model B. This kind of inaccuracy is found all through discussions of the Kwanon and when doing reseach Oline you should be careful to exercise idependent judgement.

This ad did appear in Asahi Camera magazine but I don’t know the issue date. Look at the Kwanon-C ad above. It appered on page A18. The ad on the left appeared on page A38. I assume that since the page number format is the same they come from the same magazine, different issues.

The Kwanon-D

It was not until a book called “How to Use a Camera” by Kogeisha appeared in January of 1949 that a photograph of the Kwanon-D appeared. It was a poor image but it is easy to make out the folding viewfinder and what appears to be a rewind knob on the left end of the camera. This rewind knob indicates the end of the two cassette film transport and the accommodation of the new Kodak 135 cassettes. In other respects this appears to be similar to the Kwanon-C.

No other evidence of this version has appeared, except for an actual example that we shall examine later.

Goro Yoshida said that he had assembled ten Kwanons which is not an unusual number of test models in arriving at a viable commercial camera. Notice the progress from the Model A to the Model D. Small incremental changes in a line of development. Had we the other Kwanon models I am sure they would have fit neatly into this progression.

We have covered the strongest documentary evidence existing for the Kwanon camera Models A thru D. There

are tantalizing hints of a Kwanon-E and possibly others but the evidence is so weak as to be unhelpful. All of these cameras apparently had a black finish on top and bottom with leatherette covered bodies. They were one of a kind prototypes and none were ever offered for sale as far as we know.

That said, there are two cameras that are cited by various sources as surviving Kwanon examples which we must discuss. Unfortunately, neither comes with a documented pedigree and so their origins are shrouded in the fog of Kwanon history.

This image is from the Canon Museum under the heading “Kwanon (Prototype)”

The Canon Museum calls this camera the “Kwanon Model D” but collectors use that designation as outlined above and generally call the camera in the possession of Canon the Kwanon-X.

The camera resembles the Leica II. It has both film advance and rewind knobs meaning that the dual cassette system has been abandoned. Top and bottom decks are chrome finished. It has a KasyaPa 50mm f/3.5 lens and the top is engraved with the multi-armed goddess logo. Contrary to the above origin story, the Canon Museum says that it was not made by Yoshida and that its origins are unknown. However, they still show a photo of it under the heading “Kwanon (Prototype)”

There are varying opinions about this camera and its authenticity. But all we have to do is look at it and certain things stand out. Assuming that Canon moved logically from camera to camera we can see a steady progression from the Kwanon-A thru to the Hansa Canons as the developers solved issues and avoided Leitz patents. All of the Kwanons were finished in black upper and lower decks and black leatherette all around. It is highly unlikely that the Kwanon-X came before the Kwanon-A. It has film advance and rewind knobs of a style that we don’t see until the Model S (Newest Model) of April 1939. By this time the Kwaanon development had been over for a few years.

If we try to place it after the Kwanon D it does not fit either. By this time Leitz had filed its patents in Japan and Canon was trying to avoid them. They would not have parted with this camera and invite a patent fight by so doing. This camera obviously offends those patents.

Now we come to the logo of the multi-armed goddess on the top of the camera. None of the Kwanons used that logo. There is nothing on the Kwanon-A as an identifying mark. On the Kwanon B and C we can see a script word “Kwanon” in the advertisements but no image of the Goddess. In fact, there is no evidence of this logo ever being used on any camera.

The Kwanon-C and D clearly moved away from the Leica style viewfinder and all subsequent Canon’s stayed away from it. The film advance and rewind knobs are modern resembling those on the Canon S and subsequent bottom loaders. And there is no evidence that the Kwanon Goddess logo was ever used on a camera.

Finally, Hayato is absolutely certain that this is not a real Kwanon and believes that it was assembled in 1955. He says that in Canon’s 50^th year celebrations Gorou Yoshida looked at this camera and said that he did not make it and that he felt it was not a Kwanon camera. Based on this and what we know of Kwanon development it appears that this is not what it purports to be.

The Bonhams Kwanon still has the film advance and frame counter on the front and the rewind knob on top is clearly visible as is the fold down viewfinder.

From the top the Bonham Kwanon seems a good looking camera. Unfortunately it still uses the Leitz rangefinder and lens coupling system which means it trangresses the Leitz patents.

In this top view the collapsible viewfinder is up in the position for use. The top seems to be a modification of the top on the Kwanon-A with one “tube” removed for the viewfinder.

Based on everything we have discussed the Bonham Kwanon appears to be the real deal and may be only surviving Kwanon camera. Realizing that I have not actually handled this camera it would certainly get my vote as the only surviving Kwanon Camera.

This is the KasyaPa lens from the Bonham Kwanon. This is not the same lens that is on the Kwanon-X although it looks very similar.