Before there was Konica, there were several predecessors. Konica’s roots date back to 1873 (pre-Kodak) when a pharmacist began selling photographic materials in his Tokyo shop. It has operated under a variety of names—Konishi, Konishiroku, Konishiroku Honten, Konishi Honten, and possibly others. Attributions and dates indicating which company produced which models vary in different sources. Regardless of the company name at the time, the Japanese firm produced a series of Cherry cameras, and the later Sakura series (the Japanese word for cherry blossom) cameras.

In 1902, Konishi introduced the “Cherry Portable Camera,” the first Japanese-produced end-user-oriented camera. New products were released respectively, and Konishi Main Shop became the leading camera company in Japan. Introduced in 1903, the Cherry “is historically significant as the first Japanese camera to have an individual brand name rather than a generic description” (https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Cherry). Designed to be simple enough for use by children, the Cherry No. 1 is a very small, box-shaped magazine camera. It took six dry plates approximately 5.5×8 cm. The detachable reflecting viewfinder can be positioned for horizontal or vertical pictures.

The lens barrel protrudes from the front plate, unlike on the popular American box cameras of the time. It contains a special kind of rotary shutter, placed in front of the lens, that needs cocking for instant mode. The simple falling plate mechanism permitted plates to fall in a stack. Though not necessarily designed for export or foreign markets, the identification read CHERRY rather than Japanese characters. “No surviving example of the Cherry No. 1 has ever surfaced. A replica was made by the Konica company in the 1970s.”

The Cherry No. 2 looks more like a typical box camera. The lens sits behind a plate containing three holes that adjust the aperture. The Cherry No. 3 is a larger model that takes six plates approximately 8×10.5 cm; it is otherwise similar to the Cherry No. 2. The company started using the name Sakura on its cameras in 1906-1907, producing a series of models from 1906-1939, some of which were box cameras.

A Sakura box camera launched in 1931 was a wooden camera with fixed-focus lenses featuring “brilliant finders for vertical and horizontal pictures” (http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Sakura_(box)). The shutter for the later Sakura model was reportedly made by the Konishiroku Company, whereas previous cameras used shutters that were imported. The metal frame interior groups the exposure chamber, film rollers, spool holders, and lens. It is removed in its entirety to load the 127 film.

There are three versions of the Sakura 4×6.5. All have rectangular finder eyepieces. The first version has a black finish and a sliding release lever on the right-hand side. The second version has a crinkled brown finish with brown fittings and a pivoting release lever attached to the front plate. The third version is similar but has a knurled advance knob instead of the advance key.

There are also three known versions of the Sakura 6×9, which uses 120 film. The dual-format cameras take 6×9 cm and 4.5×6 cm photos. “There are small prongs in the eyepieces to indicate the field of view for half-frame exposures. The back has three red windows, grouped under a vertical metal plate on the right. There is a metal sliding cover which can take two positions, differentiated by the number 1 and 2 showing under a small frame attached to the sliding part. In position 1, the top red window is opened for 6×9 exposures; in position 2, the two other red windows are opened for 4.5×6 exposures. The numbers 1 and 2 probably mean ‘full frame’ (one picture per frame) and ‘half frame’ (two pictures per frame).”

Camera-wiki notes that changes in the 6×9 format are similar to those of the smaller format. The first has rectangular eyepieces and no visible aperture control; the second has round eyepieces and pivoting shutter release; the third has a knurled advance knob replacing the advance key.

In 1987, the Sakura brand was discontinued worldwide and replaced with Konica.