[kwb]

(Added later: Oh no, I intended to post this to Industry and Professionals forum but somehow ended up posting here, though this isn't news nor rumor. Sorry. Seems like mods moved this to the right place, thanks, much appreciated!!!)

I was confused by the early history of Pentax and Ricoh so I researched a bit. Did you know that there were two Asahi Kogaku Kogyo in 1937~38, and one of them was Ricoh?

The original one was Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Goshi Kaisha (Asahi Optical Joint Stock Co.) founded in 1919 that later produced Asahiflex and things. It will become confusing, so let's call this one the original Asahi.

In 1936, Riken Kanko-shi Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Sensitized Paper Co. Ltd.), a company that manufactures and sells photocopier paper, was founded and this was the start of Ricoh.
In 1937-38, Riken Kanko-shi founded a dependent company Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Asahi Optical Industries Co. Ltd.).This new company didn't have anything to do with the original Asahi.

In 1938 the name of Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha was transferred to the original Asahi without compensation. Riken Kanko-shi became Riken Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Optical Industries Co. Ltd.) and eventually became Ricoh.

Year	The Original Asahi Kogaku Lineage	Ricoh Lineage
1919	Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Goshi Kaisha (Asahi Optical Joint Stock Co.) (Refs 1 and 2)
1936		Riken Kanko-shi Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Sensitized Paper Co. Ltd.) was founded. This was the start of Ricoh (Ref 3).
1937~38		Buys Olympic Camera Seisaku-sho (Olympic Camera Manufacturing) and its distributor Asahi Bussan to form a new company Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha. (Refs 4, 5).
1938		Gives the name of Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha to the original Asahi without compensation. (Refs 6, 7 and 8).
	Became the new Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha.	Riken Kanko-shi became Riken Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Optical Industries Co. Ltd.) (Refs 3, 4 and 5).
1963		Riken Kogaku Kogyo became Kabushiki Kaisha RICOH (Ref 3).
1977	Licenses Ricoh the rights to use K-mount without compensation, returning a gesture of good will. (Ref 8).
2002	Changes name to Pentax Kabushiki Kaisha (Pentax Coorporation) (Refs 1 and 2).
2007	Acquired by HOYA via TOB.
2011		Ricoh buys Pentax consumer camera business from HOYA.

References:
(1) Pentax "Course of history" (Japanese): http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/japan/pentax/pentaxhistory/course/
(2) Pentax "Course of history" (English): http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/pentax/pentaxhistory/course/
(3) Ricoh history (Japanese): ??????? | ??????? | ??????? ???IR | ???
(4) Rikagaku Kenkyusho article (Japanese): https://www.riken.jp/medialibrary/riken/pr/publications/riken88/riken88-1-2.pdf
(5) Camera wiki as of Jul/04/2021 (English): Ricoh - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia
(6) One of Pentax Official blogs (Japanese): ???????????????? | PENTAX official
(7) Yaotomi blog (Japanese): ????????PENTAX ? RICOH ???? - ??????????by????????
(8) blog of the former Editor In Chief of Monthly Photographic Industry magazine (Japanese): ??????????????? - ???????

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Last edited by kwb; 07-06-2021 at 09:37 PM. Reason: thanks mods!

[Pentax Syntax]

Wow. Didn’t know several of these items. Nice job!

[stevebrot]

One might also add Pentax-made lenses labeled as XR-Rikenon in the late '70s, the most obvious being the XR-Rikenon 200/4, near twin to the Pentax-M 200/4.


Steve

[ramseybuckeye]

Thanks for the research, I do not know a lot of Japanese history and it is very interesting. History of companies seems to be sporadic even in the US. Some companies have pretty well known roots, but most do not.

[DWS1]

Today most companies seem to exist in name only.

[clickclick]

NIce work. I feel it's somehow fitting that Ricoh has become the caretaker given their past history with the K mount. Kinda like coming home.

[vonBaloney]

One might also add Pentax-made lenses labeled as XR-Rikenon in the late '70s, the most obvious being the XR-Rikenon 200/4, near twin to the Pentax-M 200/4.

I didn't know Pentax actually made those -- that's probably why they are so good.

[FozzFoster]

(Added later: Oh no, I intended to post this to Industry and Professionals forum but somehow ended up posting here, though this isn't news nor rumor. Sorry.)

I was confused by the early history of Pentax and Ricoh so I researched a bit. Did you know that there were two Asahi Kogaku Kogyo in 1937~38, and one of them was Ricoh?

The original one was Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Goushi Kaisha (Asahi Optical Joint Stock Co.) founded in 1919 that later produced Asahiflex and things. It will become confusing, so let's call this one the original Asahi.

In 1936, Riken Kanko-shi Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Sensitized Paper Co. Ltd.), a company that manufactures and sells photocopier paper, was founded and this was the start of Ricoh.
In 1937-38, Riken Kanko-shi founded a dependent company Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Asahi Optical Industries Co. Ltd.).This new company didn't have anything to do with the original Asahi.

In 1938 the name of Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha was transferred to the original Asahi without compensation. Riken Kanko-shi became Riken Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Optical Industries Co. Ltd.) and eventually became Ricoh.

Year The Original Asahi Kogaku Lineage Ricoh Lineage
1919 Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Goshi Kaisha (Asahi Optical Joint Stock Co.) (Refs 1 and 2)
1936 Riken Kanko-shi Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Sensitized Paper Co. Ltd.) was founded. This was the start of Ricoh (Ref 3).
1937~38 Buys Olympic Camera Seisaku-sho (Olympic Camera Manufacturing) and its distributor Asahi Bussan to form a new company Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha. (Refs 4, 5).
1938 Gives the name of Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha to the original Asahi without compensation. (Refs 6, 7 and 8).
* Became the new Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha. Riken Kanko-shi became Riken Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Riken Optical Industries Co. Ltd.) (Refs 3, 4 and 5).
1963 * Riken Kogaku Kogyo became Kabushiki Kaisha RICOH (Ref 3).
1977 Licenses Ricoh the rights to use K-mount without compensation, returning a gesture of good will. (Ref 8). *
2002 Changes name to Pentax Kabushiki Kaisha (Pentax Coorporation) (Refs 1 and 2). *
2007 Acquired by HOYA via TOB. *
2011 Ricoh buys Pentax consumer camera business from HOYA.
References:
(1) Pentax "Cource of history" (Japanese): http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/japan/pentax/pentaxhistory/course/
(2) Pentax "Cource of history" (English): http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/pentax/pentaxhistory/course/
(3) Ricoh history (Japanese): ??????? | ??????? | ??????? ???IR | ???
(4) Rikagaku Kenkyusho article (Japanese): https://www.riken.jp/medialibrary/riken/pr/publications/riken88/riken88-1-2.pdf
(5) Camera wiki as of Jul/04/2021 (English): Ricoh - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia
(6) One of Pentax Official blogs (Japanese): ???????????????? | PENTAX official
(7) Yaotomi blog (Japanese): ????????PENTAX ? RICOH ???? - ??????????by????????
(8) blog of the former Editor In Chief of Monthly Photographic Industry magazine (Japanese): ??????????????? - ???????

thank you for this

[Mr. Ed]

Thanks for sharing the history. Appreciate all your time and effort.

[adabo]

Here something else about the name "Pentax":

"Pentax was originally the name of another 35mm SLR camera model, introduced in 1957 and successor of the Asahiflex. The name is derived from the shape of the prism used in SLR cameras (pentaprism), and the ending deliberately looks like the Zeiss Ikon Contax. In fact, the name Pentax was a property of Zeiss Ikon (West) until they sold it to Asahi Optical Co., maybe strategically because ZI's East-German concurrent had relabeled its Contax S SLRs to Pentacon."

Source: Pentax - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

More about Zeiss Ikon and the Dresden camera history can be found here: React App

[Michail_P]

Interesting stuff. Some new to me. Thanks for sharing.

[From1980]

One might also add Pentax-made lenses labeled as XR-Rikenon in the late '70s, the most obvious being the XR-Rikenon 200/4, near twin to the Pentax-M 200/4.


Steve

At that time I also found the XR-Rikenon 35/2.8 to be virtually identical to the SMCPM 35/2.8. I bought it new from my camera store employer at the time but after a very short while it was returned. The diaphragm lagged and would stick partially closed most of the time and curiously the same problem has been reported for the Pentax model more often than other M lenses of the era. Whose design was it? Is it possible that Ricoh was making some of the M lenses for Pentax rather than the opposite?

[stevebrot]

Whose design was it? Is it possible that Ricoh was making some of the M lenses for Pentax rather than the opposite?

The Pentax-M predated the XR-Rikenon by a few years.

The Pentax connection for those lenses was explicitly noted in Modern Photography's 1978 review of the Ricoh XR-2 as well as in the accompanying reviews of four lenses. About a decade ago, forum member Nesster posted scans of the 1978 review to the forum at MFLenses.com. He also included links to a 1979 Popular Photography review of the same.

No fooling: Modern Photography March 1978 Equipment Reviews

An interesting side-discussion might be that a second variant of the 35/2.8 came a few years after the first variant (~1981) with minimum aperture of f/16 rather than f/22, six aperture blades, and different performance characteristics. I own the second version and it is an amazing lens.


Steve

[Madaboutpix]

I bet there is a Japanese term for it, but I like this Japanese business culture of taking care of each other and helping each other out for the well-being of the whole industry and the survival of brand legacies. Nice contrast to Western-style cut-throat capitalism. You needn't be a communist for that sentiment, actually.

[clickclick]

survival of brand legacies

I think we see this very much with Ricoh. I was first struck by this in a video about the GR III, where the passion from the executives seemed very personal. Same with the promo videos on the K-3 III. A real enthusiasm from the people making it happen versus just another paid painted face. There are other threads about this video, but for ease, it can be watched here, and if you want a quick fix, skip to 11 minutes in for some interesting detail on the design and how much thought was put into it:

You Tube

You Tube