What is the relationship between the brand names Nippon Kogaku, Nikkor and Nikon? A purely personal analysis rooted in Japanese writing.
Explanations…
The NIKON Company was created in 1917 following a merger of three major Japanese optics groups under the name Nippon Kōgaku Kōgyō 日本光学工業 (Japanese Optics SA).
If we unpack, it comes to: 日本 Nippon (Japan) 光学 Kōgaku (Optics) 工業 Kōgyō (Industry).
It was only in 1945, after the war, that the company decided to launch a program for the production of cameras and spectacle lenses.
Between 1945 and 1946, tests were launched and the company moved towards marketing its first camera, under the name NIKON 1, which was actually marketed for a year in 1948, followed shortly afterwards, in 1949, by a second model, the NIKON M.
It was 40 years after giving this name to its first camera, that the firm Nippon Kôgaku Kôgyô 日本光学工業 took the trade name NIKON ニコン Corporation.
But the name NIKKOR ニッコール came long before the firm Nippon Kôgaku Kôgyô changed its name to NIKON ニコン in 1988.
The name NIKKOR ニッコール was registered in 1931 to identify its new line of lenses for photography, whose production was used in particular to supply lenses to the LEICA, CONTAX and then CANON companies until 1947.
But why and how was the name NIKKOR chosen at the time (1931), and what does it mean?
NIKKOR comes from the contraction of Nippon Kôgaku, and an “R” has been added to the end of the new name.
To understand the obviousness of this contraction, we need to look at the interplay of Kanjis (Japanese characters or letters) that occurs.
Indeed, if the explanation doesn’t make sense with Western characters, it becomes much more eloquent when reading Japanese characters or kanji.
Let me explain.
Nippon Kôgaku 日本光学, comes from 日本 (japan) and 光学 (lenses), which gives: “Japanese optics”.
The contraction results from the subtraction of two kanji from the initial name of the firm.
We start from, 日(本)光(学), Ni(ppon) Kō(gaku) or Japanese optics, to arrive at the following contraction, 日光 (Nikkō) which means: “sunbeam”.
We suddenly understand better this subtle transformation which, for someone who knows how to read Japanese, becomes obvious.
Then, simply apply a new spelling to this name, borrowing from another Japanese writing system (Katakana), to obtain with the same phonetics and the same word “Nikkō” 日光 but written:
ニッコー and add to it, an “R” or “ル” to obtain the final result: NIKKOR ニッコール.
The name NIKON, which was found 17 years later for his first camera, NIKON (model no. 1), follows the same logic.
The difference is that the double “K” (or small ッ) disappears, and the “R” (ル) at the end of the NIKKOR name is replaced by an “N” (ン).
Thus, NIKKOR ニッコール becomes NIKON ニコン.
By borrowing the Katakana syllabary to write the names NIKKOR and NIKON, the Japanese writing system used to write foreign words, was the Nippon Kōgaku Kōgyō firm, even back then, showing its desire to make the excellence of its know-how known the world over?
